**6.5 Diuretic activity**

Diuretics are the drugs which are used to increase the rate of urine flow. These are used to adjust the balance of body fluid [50]. It is reported that it consists of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, steroids and terpenoids [17]. The aqueous and alcoholic extract of leaves of *A. aspera* showed good diuretic activity. In this study it has clear that urine volume, cation and anion excretion was found to be increased, Na<sup>+</sup> /K<sup>+</sup> ratio of 2.04 and 2.18 were obtained for aqueous and alcoholic extract respectively while the normal value for Na<sup>+</sup> /K<sup>+</sup> ratio is reported to be 2.05–2.83 [51].
