Abstract

STUDIES ON PHYTOCHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF METHANOLIC EXTRACTS OF BLACK RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.) REPORTED IN AN ANCIENT TELUGU PALM-LEAF MANUSCRIPT

Balaraju Chandramouli and Kokkanti Mallikarjuna*

Abstract

Plants are being used as an alternative source for the development of safe, effective, and inexpensive new drugs to treat and prevent diseases. Recent studies have shown that black rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important source of nutrients and having wide pharmacological activities. The use of black rice powder in various ayurvedic preparations was noticed in our ancient palm leaf manuscript. Our current study stems from this observation that black rice seed powder might be having a lot of medicinal value. Keeping this in mind, preliminary phytochemical screening of methanolic seed extracts of black rice, Oryza sativa L. was carried out with an intention of finding the type and diversity of phytochemicals present in it. The phyto constituents in the plant were extracted using methanol as solvent. The extracts showed positive results for biologically active compounds like alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols and tannin compounds. The methanolic extract of black rice (Oryza sativa L.) was used to evaluate the antiarthritic, anti-inflammatory, anticancerous and other biological activities. These pharmacological studies indicates that the black rice is having potential antiarthritic, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, anticancerous, β – glucosidase and tyrosine inhibition activities. Our preliminary result confirms the reported uses of black rice in our palm leaf manuscript in the treatment of diseases like jaundice, cancer and wounds. More detailed studies are needed to isolate and identify active principles responsible for above activities.

Keywords: Black rice, Methanolic extract, Phytochemicals, Flavonoids, Anticancer, Antidiabetic, Hepato protective.