Extracts of rhinoceros horn are not antipyretic in rabbits.
We administered extracts of the horn of the African Black rhinoceros intragastrically to 7 rabbits, at the same time as injecting bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) intravenously into the rabbits to produce fever. At a dose of horn (50 mg/kg) similar to that allegedly used to reduce human fever, and at ten times that dose, the fever response to LPS was not significantly different (P > 0.05, t-test) to the response to LPS injection when boiled water was administered instead of horn extract. The known antipyretic indomethacin, however, at a dose of 10 mg/kg significantly reduced the response to LPS.
Laburn
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HP
Department of Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Parktown, South Africa.
Mitchell
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D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006733:Horns; D007213:Indomethacin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D010527:Perissodactyla; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; D011817:Rabbits; D012485:Salmonella typhi
D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; D007213:Indomethacin