Five Indigenous Plants of Pakistan with Antinociceptive, Anti-Inflammatory, Antidepressant, and Anticoagulant Properties in Sprague Dawley Rats

Moniba Sajid,Ihsan-ul Haq,Ammara Rasheed,Laila Jafri,Hammad Ismail,Nazif Ullah,Bushra Mirza,Erum Dilshad

doi:10.1155/2017/7849501

Abstract

Five medicinal plants of Pakistan were investigated for their antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, and anticoagulant potential. Antinociceptive activity was estimated by hot plate and writhing assay. In hot plate assay, Quercus dilatata (52.2%) and Hedera nepalensis (59.1%) showed moderate while Withania coagulans (65.3%) displayed a significant reduction in pain. On the other hand, in writhing assay, Quercus dilatata (49.6%), Hedera nepalensis (52.7%), and Withania coagulans (62.0%) showed comparative less activity. In anti-inflammatory assays crude extracts showed significant edema inhibition in a dose dependent manner. In carrageenan assay, the highest activity was observed for Withania coagulans (70.0%) followed by Quercus dilatata (66.7%) and Hedera nepalensis (63.3%). Similar behavior was observed in histamine assay with percentage inhibitions of 74.3%, 60.4%, and 63.5%, respectively. Antidepressant activity was estimated by forced swim test and the most potent activity was revealed by Withania coagulans with immobility time 2.2s (95.9%) followed by Hedera nepalensis with immobility time 25.3s (53.4%). Moreover, the crude extracts of Fagonia cretica (74.6%), Hedera nepalensis (73.8%), and Phytolacca latbenia (67.3%) showed good anticoagulant activity with coagulation times 86.9s, 84.3s, and 67.5s, respectively. Collectively, the results demonstrate that these five plants have rich medicinal constituents which can be further explored.

Highlights

Since the beginning of human civilization medicinal plants have been used for therapeutic purposes against different ailments; they are considered to be one of the oldest form of human healthcare known to date [1]
Five plants Quercus dilatata, Hedera nepalensis, Fagonia cretica, Phytolacca latbenia, and Withania coagulans were selected on the basis of their use in folk medicine
W. coagulans extract was more prominent in reducing analgesia with 65.3% (p < 0.01) activity while the extracts of H. nepalensis and Q. dilatata showed 59.1% and 52.2% activity (Table 3) having p value < 0.01

Summary

Introduction

Since the beginning of human civilization medicinal plants have been used for therapeutic purposes against different ailments; they are considered to be one of the oldest form of human healthcare known to date [1] It is a matter of fact that medicinal plants and their products contribute more than half of all clinically administered drugs of modern day. Between 1983 and 1994, 39% of the 520 newly approved drugs were either natural products themselves or their derivatives and 40–80% of drugs developed against bacterial infections and cancer were of natural origin, which indicates that the use of natural products in treating human ailments has been making rapid progress and getting popular with the passage of time [3,4,5,6,7] Plants and their products hold a substantial position in drug discovery and can play a dynamic role in the revenue generation and improving the economic conditions of developing countries like Pakistan [1]. It is matter of fact that, in Pakistan, over 40%

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