Antipyretic properties of carica (Vasconcellea pubescens A.DC.) fruit and seeds ethanolic extract in experimental animals

Abstract

Fever is the condition of body temperature which more than usual caused by an increase of central control temperature in the hypothalamus. An infection or virus usually cause this condition. Some of the active substances of plant secondary metabolites had been researched lower fever; they were flavonoids, saponins, and tannins. Carica (Vasconcellea pubescens A.DC) or mountain papaya is one of the fruits that had the compounds. This research purposed to know the antipyretic effect of ethanolic extracts of carica fruits and seeds towards Wistar rats. The study used pre-test – post-test only controls group design. Thirty Wistar rats were divided into six groups on each extract sample. Normal group was not given any treatment, negative control was given 2.5 mL aquadest, positive control was given acetaminophen syrup with the dosage 1.5 mL/kg body weight (b.w), and the dosages of carica fruit and seeds ethanolic extracts (EECF/EECS), there were 200, 400, and 800 mg/kg b.w. The rats were s.c induced fever with 20 mL/kg b.w 20% yeast suspension. Temperature measurement was performed every 30 minutes for 6 hours. Data processed using One Way ANOVA. The results showed that ethanolic extracts of carica fruits and seeds with a dosage of 800 mg/kg b.w were able to lower the temperature significantly (p < 0.05) towards negative control in Wistar rats.