Page 89 - IMO-2-3

Innovative Medicines & Omics

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Evaluation of antimicrobial, analgesic, and

hypoglycemic activities of Commelina diffusa
(Commelinaceae)

Tasnia Islam Anika 1 , Md. Monirul Islam 2 , and Mohammad Shawkat Ali *
1
1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy & Pharmacology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2 Department of Pharmacy, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali, Bangladesh

Abstract
Commelina diffusa, also known as the climbing dayflower or spreading dayflower,
is an herbaceous plant from the Commelinaceae family, found throughout tropical
regions, including Bangladesh. The crude methanol extract and different fractions
of C. diffusa were evaluated for their antimicrobial, analgesic, and hypoglycemic
activities. The whole plant was extracted with methanol by the cold extraction
method. The concentrated extract was then partitioned into petroleum ether- and
chloroform-soluble fractions. The antimicrobial test was performed using the disc
diffusion method. The analgesic effects were evaluated through both writhing and
tail-flick tests at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight. The oral glucose tolerance
test (OGTT) was performed to observe the hypoglycemic effect. The chloroform
and methanol soluble fractions showed potent antimicrobial activity against Gram-
*Corresponding author: positive bacteria and fungi. Statistical evaluation of the tail-flick test confirmed
Mohammad Shawkat Ali that the chloroform soluble fraction (100 mg/kg body weight) of C. diffusa had a
(drshawkat@du.ac.bd) significant amount of central analgesic activity (p<0.001). The petroleum ether soluble
Citation: Anika TI, Islam MM, fraction showed significant central analgesic activity only at higher doses (p <0.01;
Ali MS. Evaluation of antimicrobial, 200 mg/kg body weight). The acetic acid-induced writhing test also confirmed the
analgesic, and hypoglycemic
activities of Commelina diffusa peripheral analgesic activity of the samples. The maximum inhibition was noted
(Commelinaceae). Innov Med for the chloroform soluble fraction (64.56%), followed by crude methanolic extract
Omics. 2025;2(3):83-91. (56.96%) and petroleum ether soluble fraction (53.16%). However, all the extracts
doi: 10.36922/IMO025270030
showed no significant hypoglycemic activity in the OGTT. This observation, derived
Received: July 4, 2025 from an acute model of non-diabetic animals, does not preclude the possibility of
Revised: July 19, 2025 antidiabetic effects in disease-related conditions. Further investigation is warranted
to explore the specific metabolites and their pharmacological activities in relevant
Accepted: August 1, 2025
disease models.
Published online: August 18, 2025
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). Keywords: Commelina diffusa; Methanol extract; Antimicrobial activity; Hypoglycemic
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the activity; Analgesic activity
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is
properly cited. 1. Introduction
Publisher’s Note: AccScience Commelina diffusa (Family: Commelinaceae) is a herb traditionally used as a diuretic,
Publishing remains neutral with blood coagulant, antidote for different poisons, heart tonic, anti-diarrheal, anti-
regard to jurisdictional claims in 1
published maps and institutional inflammatory, and antipyretic across the world. The Commelinaceae, or the spiderwort
affiliations. family, is one of the five families within the order Commelinales and comprises about

Volume 2 Issue 3 (2025) 83 doi: 10.36922/IMO025270030