Anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of Salvia halophila and Salvia virgata from Turkey

Abstract

Chronic inflammatory diseases remain one of the world's major health problems (1). Currently, both steroidal and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are used in the treatment of inflammatory disorders. Steroids have an obvious role in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, but due to rate limiting toxicities, can only be prescribed over short periods except in very severe cases where the risks are acceptable. Prolonged use of NSAIDs also associated with severe side effects, notably gastrointestinal haemorrhage (2). The recently developed cyclooxygenase-2 (COX- 2) selective drugs introduced into therapy, however, do not seem to be free of risk (3). Consequently, there is a need to develop new anti-inflammatory agents with minimum side effects. Turkey is an important country for Salvia species. The flora of Turkey includes 88 species of the genus Salvia. The aerial parts of S. halophila and S. virgata were used in Soxhlet extraction with different solvents such as n-hexane, ethylacetate, methanol and aqueous methanol (50%). Plants were also extracted with water under reflux. In the present study, the potential effects of the extracts from the aerial parts of S. halophila and S. virgata were studied in p-benzoquinone- induced writhing reflex for the assessment of antinociceptive activity and carrageenan-induced hind paw edema and 12-O-tetradecanoyl-13-acetate (TPA)-induced ear edema models in mice for the anti-inflammatory activity. Results have shown that methanol extract of S. virgata significantly inhibited carrageenan-induced paw edema and p-benzoquinone-induced writhing reflex at 100mg/kg dose, while this extract showed no effect in the TPA-induced ear edema. On the other hand, the other exracts did not show any inhibitory antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities in these in vivo models.