Anthelmintic Activity of the Stem Bark of Juglans regia Linn

Juglans regia Linn. also called as Walnut and Akhrot is a deciduous tree belonging to family Juglandaceae. It is native of Iran, in India it is found throughout the Temperate Himalayas at an altitude of 1000-3000mtrs. In traditional literature, it was found that Juglans regia Linn. stem bark was used as folk medicine as anthelmintic. Thus the extracts of Juglans regia Linn. stem bark were investigated for its anthelmintic activity on adult Indian earthworm, Pheretima posthuma, to substantiate the folkoric claim. The stem bark of Juglans regia Linn. was collected, authenticated, dried, powdered and exhaustively extracted using soxhlet apparatus with different solvents viz. petroleum ether, benzene, chloroform, acetone, methanol, ethanol and distilled water in ascending order of polarity. All the extracts were subjected to anthelmintic activity against Indian earthworm, Pheretima posthuma. Benzene, methanol and ethanol extracts exhibited significant anthelmintic activity as comparable to that of standard drug Piperazine citrate.