42 INDIAN DRUGS 58 (04) APRIL 2021 EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF LEAVES OF EHRETIA ACUMINATA R. BR. Abha Shukla a , Amanpreet Kaur a * and Rishi K.Shukla b (Received 12 November 2019) (Accepted 05 April 2021) ABSTRACT Ehretia acuminata R. Br. is a plant with alternative medicinal properties, commonly found in Asian, African and North American countries. The present study was undertaken to prepare crude extracts of E. acuminata leaves with different polarity solvents (petroleum ether (PE), chloroform (CH), ethyl acetate (EA), ethanol (EOL) and aqua (AQ)) by using successive Soxhelet extraction method and assessing antidiabetic, anti- infammatory and antihemolytic activities by the spectrophotometric method and antimicrobial activity by the zone inhibition method. The highest antidiabetic activity was found in the chloroform extract (IC 50 260-265 μg/mL) and the lowest was in the aqueous extract (IC 50 1560-1550 μg/mL). In anti-infammatory assay, highest potential was shown by ethyl acetate (IC 50 290 μg/mL) extract and lowest in petroleum ether (IC 50 750μg/mL) extract. The zone of inhibition is highest in ethanol extract (12-18mm) by different food poisoning microbes, similarly, ethyl acetate extract showed the highest potential in antihemolytic activity with IC 50 90 μg/mL. Many extracts of E. acuminata leaves showed a high biological potential that could be attributed to the high amount of phytoconstituents and thus could be utilized as value added functional food. a Department of Chemistry, Kanya Gurukula Campus, Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar-249404, Uttarakhand, India b Department of Chemistry, Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar-249404, Uttarakhand, India *For Correspondence: E-mail: Amanpreet2225@gmail.com Keywords: Ehretia acuminata , antidiabetic, anti- infammatory, antimicrobial, ,antihemolytic activity INTRODUCTION The medicinal value of plants has become more evident during the past few decades owing largely to the discovery of a diverse array of plant secondary metabolites with an antioxidant potential 1 . Among the many plant constituents, phenolic compounds are an object of special interest due to their pronounced antioxidant potential and wide distribution in the plant kingdom. Plants contain a diverse group of phenolic compounds, including simple phenolics, favonoids, phenolic acids, anthocyanins, and many others. Many phenols can have health- related properties like anti-infammatory antibacterial, and even antidiabetic properties 2,3 . Diabetes is one of the medical disorders which leads to a constant state of enhanced oxidative stress. Chronic hyperglycaemia induces oxidative stress in all tissues because glucose in high concentrations forms reactive oxygen species. This can lead to oxidative damage in the classical secondary targets of diabetes, such as eyes, kidneys, and nerves. Although insulin and other pharmacological interventions can control many aspects of diabetes, they inadequately prevent atherothrombosis and microvascular complications affecting the retina, lens, and kidney 4 . On the other hand, the range of nutraceutical compounds that might have potential effcacy in this regard continues to expand 5 . The free radicals, especially - the reactive oxygen species (ROS), create oxidative stress in the cells leading to infammatory and infectious conditions. Phagocytic cells including polymorpho nuclear leukocytes (neutrophils, eosinophils) and mononuclear cells (macrophage and lymphocytes) produce an excessive amount of ROS which play an important role in the host defense mechanism. Besides their defensive effects, these excessively produced ROS deregulate the cellular functions causing cellular and tissue damage, which in turn augments the state of infammation 6 . Non-steroidal anti-infammatory drugs (NSAIDs) represent one of the most common classes of medications used world- wide with an estimated usage of >30million per day for infammation and related disorders 7 . Most of the NSAIDs are carboxylic acid containing drugs, including salicylate derivatives (aspirin), carboxylic and heterocyclic acid derivatives (indomethacin), propionic acid derivatives (ibuprofen, ketoprofen, furbiprofen) and phenyl acetic acid derivatives(diclofenac). It is evident that several plants have been used in traditional ayurvedic medicine for the treatment and management of distinct infammatory disorders and wound healing activities 8 . https://doi.org/10.53879/id.58.04.12201