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Inhibition of adjuvant arthritis in the rat and pinnal inflammation in the mouse by an extract of Hymenocardia acida
Author(s) -
Sackeyfio A. C.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
phytotherapy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.019
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1573
pISSN - 0951-418X
DOI - 10.1002/ptr.2650020107
Subject(s) - pharmacology , arthritis , inflammation , arachidonic acid metabolism , adjuvant , arachidonic acid , chemistry , medicine , traditional medicine , biochemistry , immunology , enzyme
Hymenocardia acida TUL, a shrub belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae, has been investigated for anti‐inflammatory activity in the rat and mouse. Various parts of the plant are claimed by practitioners of herbal medicine in some West African countries to be effective remedies for inflammation of tissues. Two experimental models of inflammation were used in the study. In rat adjuvant arthritis, the orally administered aqueous extract of the stem bark of H. acida (10–20 mg/kg) inhibited both the acute and chronic phases of the reaction in a dose‐related manner, producing inhibition of the magnitude of 37.4–70.2%. Similarly, in the anaphylactic mouse pinnal inflammation model, the orally administered extract (10–40 mg/kg) inhibited the reaction to a magnitude of 6.5–68.2%. In both models, indomethacin, a cyclo‐oxygenase inhibitor, also exhibited inhibitory effects and in the mouse pinnal model the glucocortico‐steroid, hydrocortisone, also produced inhibition. The extract of H. acida used in this study was coloured brown and, on that basis, could contain plant phenolics. H. acida may belong to a class of plant drugs which produce inhibition of phospholipid–arachidonic acid metabolism due to their phenolic constituents.