Abstract

EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT, ANTI-INFLAMMATORY AND ANALGESIC ACTIVITIES OF TRADITIONAL POLYHERBAL COMBINATION USED IN WESTERN NEPAL

Tak Maya Gurung, Atis Kaundinnyayanna, *Kalpana Parajuli

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The present study was aimed for scientific evaluation of traditional polyherbal combination that has been practicing by the local traditional practitioner of western Nepal using different parts of five different medicinal plants which are Terminalia chebula, Terminalia bellerica, Ziziphus mauritiana, Mimosa rubicaulis and Bergenia ciliate primarily for the acceleration of bone fracture repair. Methods: The polyherbal formulation using five different medicinal plants was formulated and extracted using water and ethanol respectively. The preliminary phytochemical analysis was performed. The antioxidant activity was evaluated using DPPH assay method. Similarly, for anti-inflammatory activity, carrageenan induced paw edema test and for analgesic activity hot plate test and tail immersion test were performed. Results: The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, saponins, phenols, terpenoids and carbohydrates. The aqueous extract showed high phenol content i.e. 259.96±2.21 mg GAE/g dry weight of extract also the higher antioxidant activity with IC50 value 4.64 μg/ml followed by the ethanolic extract with IC50 value 4.93 μg/ml and was comparable with the standard ascorbic acid IC50 value 4.16 μg/ml. Carrageenan induced paw edema test showed significant inhibition of paw edema at a dose 200 mg/kg when compared to the control. Similarly, the maximum possible analgesic effect of extract was found as 76.61% and 74.82% at a dose 200 mg/kg by hot plate method and tail immersion method respectively. Conclusion: The traditional use of the combination has been supported scientifically. The study may be helpful for the discovery of new anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity, Anti-inflammatory activity, Analgesic activity, Polyherbal combination, Medicinal plants.