Abstract
Smilax canariensis Brouss. ex Willd. is an endemic plant of the Canary Islands. Its rhizomes, leaves and stems have been traditionally used in Canary folk medicine to treat a wide variety of conditions including pain. Our objective is to investigate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of different extracts of S. canariensis in Swiss mice, using established biological models for pain and inflammation, such as phenylquinone writhing test, formalin test, tail-flick test and mouse paw edema induced by carrageenan. Oral administration of S. canariensis extracts significantly reduce writhing episodes evoked by phenylquinone injection in a dose-dependent manner; and higher doses result in a reduction of pain similar to or higher than that of the reference drug piroxicam (59.56%; p < 0.01). The extracts also cause a marked dose-dependent inhibition of for-malin-induced pain in the second phase but only minimal inhibition of tail-flick behavior, suggesting that S. canariensis is not a centrally acting analgesic. Finally, in the carrageenan-induced hind paw edema model, the extracts show a moderate anti-inflammatory effect, the most active being the ethyl acetate fraction at 200 mg/kg p.o. (33.33%; p < 0.05). Our results suggest that S. canariensis extracts have clear dose-dependent peripheral analgesic effects, which lends support to the traditional use of this medicinal plant to treat pain associated with inflammatory or other processes.
Highlights
Pain constitutes a major public health problem and the primary reason why people seek medical care, and it limits productivity and diminishes the quality of life [1].There are several therapeutic protocols for the management of pain, the most widely prescribed being non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin and ibuprofen, which reduce prostanoid formation by cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition, and opioids, such as morphine
Piroxicam used at 75 mg/kg p.o. as the reference NSAID produced a significant strong analgesic effect (59.56%; p < 0.01) compared to the control group
Since S. canariensis extracts have shown significant activity against pain induced by phenylquinone, compared to the control group, these data indicate that S. canariensis extracts have an analgesic effect on inflammatory pain
Summary
There are several therapeutic protocols for the management of pain, the most widely prescribed being non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin and ibuprofen, which reduce prostanoid formation by cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition, and opioids, such as morphine. These drugs have significant side effects that limit their use, and the use of NSAIDs is associated with gastrointestinal irritation and renal function abnormalities [2], whereas opioid analgesics are limited by drug-induced tolerance, dependence and constipation. Leaves and stems are habitually employed as an oral hot water infusion in Canary Islands folk medicine due to the wide variety of medicinal properties attributed to it, including diuretic and anti-spasmodic effects, among others [10] [11]
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