Analgesic and Anti-inflammatory Effect of the Aqueous Extract of Dichrostachys glomerata (Forssk.) Hutch Fruits

Aims: Dichrostachys glomerata is a plant found in the humid areas of Africa and widely used for the treatment of many ailments including rheumatism and snake bite. The present study has been undertaken to assess the analgesic and the anti-inflammatory properties of aqueous extract Dichrostachys glomerata fruit.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Animal Biology and Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. Between January 2012 and October 2012.

Methodology: Pain was induced in mice by the intraperitoneal administration of 1% acetic acid, hot plate, formalin and tail immersion test. Carrageenan and serotonin (1%) were used to induce inflammation in rat paws.

Results: Dichrostachys glomerata significantly inhibited pain induced by acetic acid with a percentage inhibition of 19.4, 69.8, 33.7 and 24.3% respectively at the doses of 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg. An acute pretreatment of mice with extract significantly increased reaction time in the hot plate test with a percentage inhibition more than 68%. Formalin induced pain was also significantly inhibited after treatment of rat with the plant extract at the doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg for the neurogenic phase with percentage of inhibition of 56.14 and 61.46% respectively. The extract significantly reduced oedema induced by carrageenan injection with a PI of 72.57 and 79.85% at the doses of 200 and 25 mg/kg respectively. In contrast, a pi of 65.03% was obtained with the plant extract at the dose of 50 mg/kg on serotonin-induced oedema.

Conclusion: The Results obtained showed that D. glomerata aqueous extract have both analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties and could be a potential source of new oral anti-inflammatory and/ or analgesic drug.