title: Anti-inflammatory activity of aqueous extracts of five Costa Rican medicinal plants in Sprague-Dawley rats.
abstract: The anti-inflammatory properties of Loasa speciosa and Loasa triphylla (Loasaceae), Urtica leptuphylla and Urera baccifera (Urticaceae), and Chaptalia nutans (Asteracene) were studied using the carregeenan induced rat paw edema model. Aqueous extracts of each plant were made according to the ethnobotanical use. The hippocratic assay was made with female rats; the dose used was 500 mg/kg i.p. and the control group received 0.5 ml of n.s.s.. All the animals treated showed hypothermia, and those treated with the extracts of Chaptalia nutans, Urera baccifera and Urtica leptuphylla showed an increased colinergic activity. Acute toxicities of the aqueous extracts were studied in mice an the mean lethal doses ranged between 1.0226 and 1.2022 g/kg. The extracts of Urera baccifera, Chaptalia nutans, Loasa speciosa and Loasa triphylla (500 mg/kg i.p.) showed an anti-inflammatory activity comparable with that of indomethacin. The extracts of U. baccifera and C. nutans, which showed the greatest anti-inflammatory activity, did not show it when used orally (500 mg/kg p.o.).
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Farmacéuticas (INIFAR), Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José Costa Rica. bbadilla@cariari.ucr.ac.cr
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Badilla
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Poveda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002351:Carrageenan; D003364:Costa Rica; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D004487:Edema / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006614:Hindlimb; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts; D002351:Carrageenan