Evaluation of Antifibrin, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Betel Leaves (Piper betel L.)

Piper betel L. belongs to the family Piperaceae. It has been an important medicinal agent since ages in various traditional and folk systems of medicine. Leaves obtained from the local market were shade dried and powdered. Different solvents were used based on polarity to extract phytochemicals from this powder using a Soxhlet extractor and separated using rotary vacuum evaporator. Thin layer chromatography was run using different solvent systems in different ratios for identifying essential compounds of Piper betel and for standardizing the ratios at which better resolution of compounds taken place. Antimicrobial activities were tested on twelve bacterial and three fungal species. Also, anti fibrin activity was tested on erythrocytes by using the extracts obtained by the plant. The zone of inhibitions formed due to the anti microbial activity were measured and found that mixtures of ethyl acetate and ethanol were effective. The percentage of clot lysis was found to be appreciable for ethyl acetate extract of the Piper leaves.