Pharmacological Potential Investigation of Setaria italica (Poaceae)

The plant Setaria italica (Family: Poaceae) has been studied for the evaluation of pharmacological activities of the extractives The crude ethanolic extract and its different fractions were screened for various pharmacological properties. In acetic acid induced writhing method, ethanolic crude extract and carbon tetrachloride fraction showed promising analgesic activity. In radiant heat tail-flicking test, anti-nociceptive effect of crude ethanolic extract was found to be moderately significant (with 52-55% elongation of tail flicking time, p>0.01). Ethanolic crude extract (10.33 g/ml), chloroform (11.12 g/ml), carbon tetrachloride (15.25 g/ml) and pet ether (12.49 g/ml) fractions have shown potent free radical scavenging activity. The crude extract also gave significant cytotoxic, antioxidant and hypoglycemic activity.