Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Activities of Cordia Dichotoma Forst

Abstract

Cordia dichotoma Forst.has been used in the management of pain and inflammations in traditional medicine. However, the anti-inflammatory activity of the methanolic extract of C. dichotoma(MECD) bark has not been reported so far. This work was, therefore, aimed at investigating the anti-inflammatory activity of C. dichotomabark extract. The antioxidant activity was evaluated to justify the anti-inflammatory action of MECD on the basis of its radical scavenging property. The extract of C. dichotomawas obtained by Soxhlation of bark powder using methanol as solvent. The anti-inflammatory activity was determined by the carrageenan induced paw edemamodel in ratsat two different dose levels, viz., 250 and 500 mg/kg. The antioxidant activity was evaluated using DPPH radical scavenging assay. The antioxidant activity was performed in vitro by DPPH radical scavenging assay using ascorbic acid as the standard drug. In anti-inflammatory activity, maximum inhibition of edema was observed after 4 hours of experimental period. At lower test dose (250 mg/kg b.w.), the percentage inhibition of paw edema was 29.7 %, while 48.6 % inhibition of edema was observed at higher dose (500 mg/kgb.w.). The percentage inhibition of paw edema was significant relative to the control group. The standard indomethacin group also exhibited sufficiently high level of anti-inflammatory effect with 56% inhibition of paw edema at 5 mg/kg dose. In in vitroantioxidant activity, the MECD exhibited good DPPHradical scavenging activity with the IC50 vale of 62.46 µg/ml, whereas the standard drug, ascorbic acid showed comparatively more antioxidant activity with IC50 of 27.66 µg/ml.However, our study scientifically validates the folkloric claim as well as traditional uses of C. dichotomaas anti-inflammatory medication. It is suggested that the anti-inflammatory activity of C. dichotomamay be due to the antioxidant potential of phenolic phytoconstituents or plant flavonoids present in the methanolic bark extract.