Preparation of the plant extracts: The Paederia foetida leaves were first cut and grinded. The
pasted leaves were packed in a soxhlet apparatus and subjected to mild hot continuous
percolation for 12 hour using absolute ethanol as solvent. The ethanol extract was concentrated
under reduced pressure at 50ºC using rotary evaporator. The concentrated extract was further
dried by placing within a desiccator (approximate yield 10%, w/w). Dried ethanol-free extract of
Paederia foetida was dissolved in physiological saline (0.9% NaCl) and sonicated within a bath
sonicator to make a homogenous solution of 500 mg/ml.