Abstract
The present work concerns the analgesic effects of zerumbona, obtained from Zingiber zerumbet L. Smith cultivated in Manaus/Amazonas. The compound has been studied for decades because it has potent cytotoxic activity against liver and prostate tumor cells, colon, and breast. The plant is rich in sesquiterpenes, glycosylated flavonoids that present important pharmacological activities; standing out cytotoxic activity against neoplastic cells of cancers. The objective of this study was to test the antinociceptive activity of zerumbone (ZER) using chemical and thermal nociception models, that is, writhing test induced by acetic acid and hot plate test. ZER administered orally and intraperitoneally produced significant and dose-dependent analgesic activity against the pain, acetic acid, formalin, and capsaicin models. In addition, ZER significantly increased the dormancy of the animals in the hotplate test pain model (49-540C). It was demonstrated that intraperitoneal (i.p.) and oral (p.o.) administration of ZER sesquiterpene in doses of 150 to 500 mg/kg i.p. and 250 to 1500 mg/kg p.o. produced significant dose-dependent inhibition of acetic acid-induced abdominal writhing, as compared to fentanest (20 µg/kg). At the same intraperitoneally and orally doses, the ZER produced significant dose-dependent latency-time increases in the hot-plate test relative to control. It was concluded that ZER exhibits both central and peripheral antinociceptive activity, indicating it to hold therapeutic potential for the discovery of new antinociceptive drugs as an alternative for the discovery of new drugs in the control of neurogenesi. The ZER exhibited similar efficacy and strength via both oral and intraperitoneally routes. ZER is the major essential oil component, a new sesquiterpene responsible for its nociceptive effect, when compared with other antinociceptive sesquiterpenes described in literature. Key words: Zingiber zerumbet, zerumbone, Zingiberacea, antinociceptive activity.  
Highlights
The objective of this study was to test the antinociceptive activity of zerumbone (ZER) using chemical and thermal nociception models, that is, writhing test induced by acetic acid and hot plate test
Zerumbone (ZER) is the main component extracted from the essential oils of Zingiber zerumbet, a plant belonging to family Zingiberaceae, which is much used in the Malaysian traditional medicine (Dev, 1960; Koshimizu et al, 1988)
Z. zerumbet rhizomes essential oils analyses findings confirmed the presence of a major sesquiterpene component called Zerumbone (Figure 1), which was characterized by UV-visible spectrophotometry, high efficiency liquid chromatography (HELC), by gas chromatography and identified through 1H and 13C NMR
Summary
Zerumbone (ZER) is the main component extracted from the essential oils of Zingiber zerumbet, a plant belonging to family Zingiberaceae, which is much used in the Malaysian traditional medicine (Dev, 1960; Koshimizu et al, 1988). Attempts to isolate and identify bioactive compounds from the RZZ started since 1944 with the identification of humulene (Eddy and Leimback, 1987); monoterpenes (Carter, 1991; Hwang and Wilcox, 1987), and zerumbone (2,6,10-cy-cloundecatrien-1-one, 2,6,9,9-tetramethyl-, (E,E,E)-) (Carter, 1991) from the essential oil of RZZ (EOZZ). It is a substance, presenting antiinflamatory (Murakami et al, 2002), antiproliferative (Takada et al, 2005), antimicrobial (Abdul et al, 2008), antibacterial (Kitayama et al, 2001) and antitumoral (Murakami et al, 2004) activities, being recommended for the treatment of liver, colon and skin cancer (Sulamain et al, 2009). Some scientific research on the bioactivities of zerumbone, which was identified as a major compound of Z. zerumbet, reported that zerumbone possesses many pharmacological activities, such as chemoprevention Yob et al (2011), antiinflammatory and antiallergic activities. Somchit et al (2005) have earlier reported on the antinociceptive profiles of AEZZ and EEZZ administered intraperitoneally into rats and assessed using the 0.6% acetic acid-induced writhing test
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