SYNOPSIS OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH PROJECT FOR NATIONAL SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY FELLOWSHIP 2021-2022

1. Title of the Research Project

Evaluation of Hepato-protective, Cardio-protective and Anti-diabetic effect of ethanolic extract of
Garcinia cowa

2. Introduction
From the ancient time, the natural products (especially plants and mineral products) having
therapeutic properties were used by the human civilization (Rates, 2001). But at that time, there was
not sufficient information about how to utilize the plant to cure in the best possible way. In fact,
everything was based on just experience. In time, the reasons for the usage of specific medicinal
plants for the treatment of certain diseases were being discovered. People always tried to use plant as
the supreme source for remedy, while also tried to find out new and more potential one than the
previous one (Jaslin et al., 2010).
As Bangladesh is a developing country with low economic growth, a proper healthcare system should
be established to by supplying low cost medicine, which can be obtained easily by utilizing our plant
sources. So, scientific exploration and standardization of these potential crude drugs is needed to
revolutionize our drug sector (Ghani, 2003). In recent year, many researchers have focused on
medicinal plants for disease management and numerous potential phytochemical compounds had been
identified, their biological activities had been established and were synthesize from plants for various
functions (Ahn, 2017).
Garcinia cowa commonly known as Kowa, Kau, Cowphal, belongs to the family Clusiaceae is
traditionally being used for treating various human diseases. It is native to India, Bangladesh,
Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Southwest China. The leaves are 6-15 cm in
length and 2.5- 6.0 cm in width while the fruits are green when young and dull orange or yellow at
maturity. Hence, we want to investigate the Hepato-protective, Cardio-protective and Anti-diabetic
effect of ethanolic extract of Garcinia cowa depending on the tenability of laboratory facility in our
department.

3. Traditional use
Several parts of this plant is useful as antipyretic, antimicrobial agent, anti-inflammatory agent,
improvement of blood circulation, expectorant for cough and indigestion, and as a laxative, to treat
dysentery and as anti-malarial agent (Lim, 2012).

4. Chemical Constituents
The major compounds found were xanthones and phloroglucinols. However, minor compounds,
including depsidones, terpenoids, steroids and flavonoids, were also observed. Currently, 78
compounds have been isolated from the twig, stem, fruit and latex (Ritthiwigrom et al., 2013).

Compounds Example Biological effect Example Biological effect

Xanthones Cowaxanthone Antimalarial & Cowanin Antibacterial,
Cytotoxicity Anti-inflammatory
Phloroglucinol Garcicowin A Cytotoxicity Chamuangone Antibacterial
s activity
Flavonoids Morelloflavone Antioxidant Volkensiflavone Antioxidant
activity activity

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5. Objectives of the Study
The work has been undertaken to investigate the potentiality of hepato-protective, cardio-protective
and anti-diabetic effect of Garcinia cowa.

6. Research Design
The whole plant will be shed dried and crushed into coarse powder and are defeated with suitable
solvents. After filtration, the residue will be extracted and applied for biological test in different
laboratories in the Department of Pharmacy, BSMRSTU and Natural Products Research Laboratory,
Department of Pharmacy, Jahangirnagar University.

6.1 Procurement of plant and animals

The plant and animals will be collected from Horticulture Centre, Khulna and authenticated by
Department of Botany, Jahangirnagar University.

6.2 Pharmacological Tests

Name of the test Methods

Hepato-protective activity Test Can be evaluated by the intake of Paracetamol (640 mg/kg) in
test (Janbaz & Gilani, several combination with vehicles and Silymarin in 6 groups of rat,
1995) (10 rats per group). The activity will be determined by assessing
serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase
(ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and other biochemical
parameters in rats.
Anti-diabetic Assessment Test will be performed by alloxan induced diabetic model while,
test (Sikarwar & diabetes will be induced by alloxan monohydrate (150 mg/kg, i.p.).
Patil,2010) Comparative analysis with standard drug glibenclamide will be
evaluated for 14 days. Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST),
alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and
other biochemical parameters will be assessed.
Cardio-protective activity Five groups of rat (10 per group) with be experimented with clozapine
activity test (Hassan & (15mg/kg body weight) in several combination for 21 days. Potential
Ali, 2021) result can be gained after 12 hours of fasting. Serum marker enzymes
as creatinine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, AST and troponin T will
be estimated, as well as inflammatory markers; E-selectin,
myeloperoxidase (MPO) and CRP. Caspase-3 and MDA were also
estimated.

7. Time Frame
The duration of this thesis is 01 year (2021 to 2022).

Working Schedule Estimated Time (in Month)

Preparatory Works/ Literature Review 2
Preparation of Animals and Lab Settings 1
Collection and Extraction of Medicinal Plants/Plant Parts 2
In-vivo Test Analysis 4
Data Analysis 2
Report Preparation and Submission 1

8. Socio-Economic Impact and Conclusion

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Medicinal plants are frequently used as raw materials for pharmacological activity evaluation and
extraction of active ingredients. However, Garcinia cowa would be a potential source of drug in
herbal remedies and healthcare preparations in developing countries like Bangladesh. To compete in
the pharmaceutical sector with other countries, we should utilize the natural sources and investigate
about their potential activities. Thus it reduces the cost of medicine and increase the availability to the
common folks. In the near future it may play a very much important role for achieving impressive
researches.

9. References
Ahn, K. (2017). The worldwide trend of using botanical drugs and strategies for developing
global drugs. BMB reports, 50(3), 111.

Ghani, A. (2003). edition 2. Medicinal plants of Bangladesh with chemical constituents and uses.
Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Dhaka.

Hassan, E., & Ali, E. (2021). Cardioprotective Effect of Portulaca Oleracea L.(Purslane) against
Clozapine-Induced Cardiotoxicity in Rats. Asian Journal of Cardiology Research, 13-23.

Janbaz, K. H., & Gilani, A. U. H. (1995). Evaluation of the protective potential of Artemisia
maritima extract on acetaminophen-and CCl4-induced liver damage. Journal of
ethnopharmacology, 47(1), 43-47.

Jaslin, E., Sethuramani, A., Devi, P., & Meera, R. (2010). Anti diabetic, hypolipidemic and anti
oxidant activities of the plant extracts of Morus alba Linn. Int J Phytopharm Res, 1, 25-28.

Lim, T. K. (2012). Garcinia cowa. In Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants (pp. 29-34).
Springer, Dordrecht.

Rates, S. M. K. (2001). Plants as source of drugs. Toxicon, 39(5), 603-613.

Ritthiwigrom, T., Laphookhieo, S., & Pyne, S. G. (2013). Chemical constituents and biological
activities of Garcinia cowa Roxb.

Sikarwar, M. S., & Patil, M. B. (2010). Antidiabetic activity of Crateva nurvala stem bark extracts
in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Journal of pharmacy and bioallied sciences, 2(1), 18.