RESEARCH ARTICLE Pharmacological investigations of organic crude fractions of Dysophylla auricularia Tanzina Nur 1 & Md. Torequl Islam 1,4 & Syedul Alam 2 & M. Mohi Uddin Chowdhury 1 & Ana Amelia Carvalho Melo-Cavalcante 3 & Rivelilson Mendes de Freitas 4 Received: 21 January 2015 /Accepted: 14 June 2015 /Published online: 17 July 2015 # Institute of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University and Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 Abstract The aim of this present study is to investigate phar- macological activities of organic crude fractions of Dysophylla auricularia. For this organic fractions namely - ethanol, chloroform and n-hexane have been investigated for antimicrobial, anti-diarrheal, anti-inflammatory and mem- brane stabilization, α-glycosidase inhibitory and antipyretic activities. Results suggest that in the antimicrobial sensitivity study, ethanol and chloroform fractions produced inhibition zones with the ranges of 12 to 20 mm and 7 to 21 mm, re- spectively; where they strongly inhibited the growth of Shi- gella sonnei, Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae and Microsporum sp. Crude fractions also revealed the presence of antidiarrheal, antiinflammatory and membrane stabiliza- tion, anti-amylase as well as antipyretic activities. In conclu- sion, it should be mentioned that D. auricularia may have one of the good sources for phytotherapy. Keywords Dysophylla auricularia . Crude . Organic fractions . Pharmacological Introduction Consumption of herbal medicines (HM) is tremendously in- creasing over the past decades as alternative approach to im- prove the quality of life and maintain good health. Medicinal plants have been used for centuries as medicine for human diseases. Extensive studies of the adverse effects of these HM and establishment of a good correlation between bio- markers and plants are essential for ensuring the efficiency and quality of HM. Recently, there has been growing interest in exploiting biological activities of flora and fauna owing to their natural origin, cost effectiveness and less side effects. Plant-based natural constituents can be derived from any part of the plant like bark, leaves, flowers, roots, fruits, seeds, etc. Medicinal properties of plants unique to particular plant spe- cies or groups are consistent with the concept that combina- tion of secondary products in a particular plant is taxonomi- cally distinct (Latha and Reddy 2009). Medicinal plants obtained from wild habitats are found in different natural ecosystems of the forests, grasslands, wood- lands, wetlands, in field margins and garden fences, as weeds and in many other microhabitats from where they are harvest- ed when the need arises. These are free access resources to all who want to make familiar uses for practicing traditional med- icine or sales. As the treatment of specific disease involves numerous plants and different house-holds using different plant mix and there are variations across households in pref- erences, the cultural set up promotes not only conservation but also diversification of these resources. Today according to the World Health Organization, as many as 80 % of the world’ s people depend on traditional medicine for their primary health care needs. There are considerable eco- nomic benefits in the development of indigenous medi- cines and in the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of various diseases (Azaizeh et al. 2003). Plants have * Md. Torequl Islam mti031124@gmail.com 1 Department of Pharmacy, Southern University Bangladesh, 22-Shahid Mirza Lane (E), Academic Building-II, 739/A, Mehedibag Road, Mehedibag-4000, Chittagong, Bangladesh 2 Forest Botany Division, Bangladesh Forest Reseach Institute, Chittagong, Bangladesh 3 Laboratory of Research in Genetic Toxicology, Post-Graduation Program in Pharmaceutics Science, Federal University of Piauí, 64.049-550 Teresina, Piauí, Brazil 4 Laboratory of Research in Experimental Neurochemistry, Post-Graduation Program in Pharmaceutics Science, Federal University of Piauí, 64.049-550 Teresina, Piauí, Brazil Orient Pharm Exp Med (2015) 15:207–215 DOI 10.1007/s13596-015-0190-x Online ISSN 2211-1069 Print ISSN 1598-2386