Abstract
BackgroundTissue damage is associated with pain, which is an alarming sign. Aspirin and morphine have been widely used in recent decades for management of pain. Medicinal herbs have been in use for treatment of different diseases for centuries. Many of these herbs possess analgesic activity with relatively less incidences of adverse effects. The strong positive correlation of alkaloids in medicinal plants for analgesic activity persuades an intention to determine possible analgesic activity of total alkaloids extracted from the selected medicinal plants using animal models to answer its possible mechanisms.MethodsCrude alkaloids from selected medicinal plants (Woodfordia fruticosa, Adhatoda vasica, Chenopodium ambrosioides, Vitex negundo, Peganum harmala and Broussonetia papyrifera) were extracted as per reported literature. The test crude alkaloids were screened foracute toxicity study. Writhings induced by acetic acid, tail immersion method and formalin-induced nociception assay procedures were used for possible analgesic effects of the crude alkaloids.ResultsCrude alkaloids were safe up to dose of 1250 mg/kg body weight in mice. The alkaloids significantly reduced the abdominal constrictions, and increased the time for paw licking response in both phases with a significant raise in latency time in nociception models (P ≤ 0.05). Moreover, the antinociceptive response was significantly attenuated by pretreatment with naloxone suggesting involvement of the opioid receptors for possible antinociceptive action.ConclusionsCrude alkaloids of Woodfordia fruticosa and Peganum harmala showed prominent analgesic potentials through inhibition of peripheral as well as central nervous system mechanisms. Further work is required for isolation of the pharmacologically active constituents.
Highlights
Tissue damage is associated with pain, which is an alarming sign
The compounds antagonized abdominal constrictions at a dose of 50 mg/ kg i.p., maximum pain alleviation (78.45 %, P < 0.001, n = 6) was observed for Woodfordia fruticosa crude alkaloid followed by Peganum harmala crude alkaloid (72.13 %, P < 0.001, n = 6)
The results of the crude alkaloids in post formalin induced flinching behavior are presented in Table 1 and Fig. 2
Summary
Plant materials The collected plant species namely Woodfordia fruticosa (voucher specimen Wf-01-2015, Lythraceae, Swat, aerial parts), Adhatoda vasica syn. The mice were treated with the test alkaloids extract in doses of 750, 1000 and 1250 mg/kg. The test samples and standard drugs were administered 1 h before of intraperitoneal injection of 1 % (v/v) acetic acid (0.1 ml/10 g). Negative control group received carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) 0.5 % and vehicle only [26] Formalin test This test was performed by the method of assessing the licking response of formalin-induced edema in paw of mice. Animals in different groups were treated test samples (50 mg/kg, i.p), indomethacin (10 mg/kg, i.p) and morphine (5 mg/ kg, i.p), 30 min prior to administration of formalin. To prelabelled group (CMC 0.5 %), morphine (5 mg/kg), and crude alkaloids at a dose of 50 mg/kg of different medicinal plants were given. Analysis of variance and Dunnett’s test is statistically manipulated with GraphPad prism software version 5.01
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