In vitro and In vivo Anti-inflammatory Activity of the Extracts of Whole Plant Argyreia imbricata (Roth) Sant. & Patel

Abstract

Plants of the genus Argyreia have ethnomedicinal importance, and several pharmacological activities are also reported. In this study, the anti-inflammatory activity of different extracts of Argyreia imbricata was evaluated by in vitro and in vivo methods. In both evaluations, standard, Diclofenac sodium was used for comparative evaluation. In this study, extraction of powdered whole plant material was done with different solvents viz., petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol by soxhelation. In vitro anti-inflammatory activity of all the prepared extracts was evaluated by stabilization of human red blood cell (HRBC) membrane in different temperature and tonicity conditions. Among the six different concentrations of four tested extracts, the ethyl acetate and methanol extracts (1000μg/ml) showed significant activity in the in vitro evaluation. They were selected for the in vivo evaluation on the paw oedema induced by carrageenan on Wistar albino rats. Two doses, 200mg.kg-1 and 400mg.kg-1 of the test extracts were subjected to evaluation. Both the tested extracts showed the activity, particularly, the methanol extract in the dose of 400mg.kg-1 showed significant activity. Results of this study strongly supported the anti-inflammatory activity of the tested extracts. Further, studies on toxicity, identification, isolation of the active constituents may give useful results.