S. M. Patil

  The medicinal plants have been selected for thorough studies from indigenous folk medicines, Ayurvedic, Unani and Siddha systems of medicines. Ficus bengalensis Linn (Moraceae) is a plant that is widely distributed in India. In traditional medicines it is used for healing obstruction of urine flow, diarrhea, dysentery, conjunctivitis, scabies and diabetes. So it has been a subject of chemical, biological and pharmacological interest since a long time. The aqueous or alcoholic extracts of various parts of this plant were found to have various pharmacological activities for example, antidiabetic, hypocholesterolemic, hypolipidemic, anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, antibacterial, antiallergic and anti-tumor activity. The anti-ulcer activity of a methanolic extract prepared from the stem bark of Ficus bengalensis Linn was evaluated in rats employing the ethanol-acid and Indomethacin models to induce experimental gastric ulcers. Treatments with Ficus bengalensis Linn methanolic extract (100, 200 and 400mg/kg) provided significant anti-ulcer protection in the ethanol-acid and Indomethacin models. Keywords: Anti-ulcer, ethanol-acid, Indomethacin, Ficus bengalensis Linn, dysentery