Estimation of anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive and antioxidant activities of Arctium minus (Hill) Bernh. ssp. minus.

BACKGROUND

Arctium minus (Hill) Bernh. ssp. minus (Asteraceae) leaves are used to alleviate rheumatic pain, against fever and sunstroke with externally application in Turkish folk medicine.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive and antioxidant activities of aqueous and ethanol extracts prepared from the leaves of Arctium minus ssp. minus.

METHODS

The ethanolic and aqueous extracts from the leaves of Arctium minus ssp. minus were evaluated in mice for anti-inflammatory activity using carrageenan-induced hind paw edema model and for antinociceptive activity using p-benzoquinone-induced abdominal contractions test. Moreover, the antioxidant power of the extracts has been determined by using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and flow injection analysis-luminol chemiluminescence (FIA-CL). In addition, the total phenolic content in both extracts was determined with spectrophotometric method.

RESULTS

Our results showed that only the ethanol extract exhibited a dose-dependent anti-inflammatory activity ranging between 11.1 and 23.6% at 200mg/kg dose as well as displayed a significant antinociceptive activity without inducing any gastric damage. Although, both extracts were shown to possess significant DPPH radical-scavenging activity, that of aqueous extract was found to have more pronounced activity. In FIA-CL system, the ethanol extract was shown to possess a significant scavenger activity against H(2)O(2) while the aqueous extract was much more potent antioxidant activity against HOCl-luminol CL than ethanol extract.

CONCLUSIONS

According to our results, it was concluded that Arctium minus ssp. minus contains potent natural antioxidants. In this study, in vivo experimental results have also supported the folk medicinal utilization of Arctium minus ssp. minus.