PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANALGESIC EFFECT OF ETHANOL LEAF EXTRACT OF PSIDIUM GUAJAVA (LINN)

Psidium guajava is an important food crop and medicinal plant available in tropical countries, widely used in food and folk medicines around the world. The aim of this study is to investigate the analgesic property of ethanol leaf extract of Psidium guajava. The Psidium guajava L. leaves were freshly collected from cultivated source on the in December 2014 at the Agricultural Science Farm of University of Maiduguri. This was dried, powdered and macerated with 95% ethanol to give the ethanol extract. The extract was then used to evaluate the preliminary phytochemistry and analgesic property. The preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, steroids and triterpenoids, carbohydrate, cardiac glycosides, tannins and flavonoids. The leaf extract of Psidium guajava exhibited significant analgesic effect in acetic acid and tail immersion induced pain at the dose of 250 to 1000 mg/kg in rats. The ethanol leaf extract of Psidium guajava contain some active phytochemical constituents which may be responsible for the observed analgesic activity and this amply justify the traditional use of this plant as a pain reliever.