Screening of herbs with Na [superscript +]-K[superscript +]-adenosine triphophatase inhibitory activity

Abstract

Crude extract of the following ten herbs were screened for Na[superscript +]-K[superscript +]-ATPase inhibitory activity: Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn., Pluchea indica Linn. Less., Cassia alata Linn., Elephantopus scaber Linn., Acorus calamus Linn., Ananas comosus Linn. Merr., Imperara cylindrica Beauv., Orthosiphon aristatus Miq., Cyperus rotundus Linn., and Saccharum sinense Roxb.. The bioassay results indicated that at 250 mg/ml of each extract from A. calamus (CHCl[subscript 3]), A. comosus (hexane, CHCl[subscript 3], EtOH), C. rotundus (hexane, EtOH), E. scaber (EtOH), O. aristatus (hexane) and P. indica (hexane) showed more than 50% inhibitory activity on Na[superscript +] -K[superscript +]-ATPase. The C. rotundus crude extract showed the highest inhibitory activity. Separation of the crude hexane extract of C. rotundus gave two mixtures. Using of physical and spectroscopic properties the mixtures were identified to be a mixture of long chain carboxylic acids (C[subscript 22], C[subscript 24], C[subscript 26], C[subscript 28] and C[subscript 30]) and a mixture of stigmasterol and beta-sitosterol. At 1000 ppm, they exhibited Na[superscript +]-K[superscript +]-ATPase inhibitory activity at 38.13 and 44.0 %, respectively