Identification and evaluation of counter-irritant potential of crude extract of Malva parviflora L. by WHO recommended methods.

Plenty of medicinal plants are available in Pakistan and are in human use as herbal medicines from ancient time. Present work is based on the evaluation of the use of Malva parviflora in skin irritation problems. For this purpose, powdered plant material (The aerial part and roots separately) was extracted by using successive solvent extraction method using petroleum ether, chloroform and methanol. Resulting three crude fractions were subjected to counter-irritant investigations on rabbit's ear. Petroleum ether fraction exhibited prominent counter-irritant potential. Five compounds named, as MP-1, MP-2, MP-3, MP-4 and MP-5 were isolated from petroleum ether extract by column and thin layer chromatography. These compounds were subjected to UV spectrophotometer for detection of absorption of light, then FTIR for specific functional group identification and counter-irritant potentials was evaluated on rabbit's ear skin. The MP-1 and MP-2 exhibited excellent counter-irritant activity in different dilutions than others. However, dilution 100 μg/ml showed maximum activity.