title: Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity of a medicinal tincture from Pedilanthus tithymaloides.
abstract: Pedilanthus tithymaloides (L.) Poit. (Euphorbiaceae) is a low tropical American shrub with a reported wide range of healing properties such as emetic, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, antiseptic, antihemorrhagic, antiviral, antitumoral, and abortive. In the present study, a tincture from P. tithymaloides collected in Cuba was evaluated for its in vivo anti-inflammatory activity, using the rat paw oedema assay, and for its in vitro scavenging effects on reactive oxygen species (ROS) (HO*, O2*-, HOCl, ROO* and H2O2), reactive nitrogen species (RNS) (ONOO- and *NO), and DPPH* radical. The protein, free amino acid, and phenolic contents of the tincture were also determined. Pertaining to the anti-inflammatory activity, the intraperitoneal administration of the tincture inhibited carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema, whereas in the scavenging assays the tincture showed to be effective against all the assayed ROS and RNS, specially for HO* (IC50 = 345+/-77 microg/mL), O2*- (IC50 = 143+/-7 microg/mL), HOCl (IC50 = 113+/-20 microg/mL), ONOO- (IC50 = 44+/-3 microg/mL), and *NO (IC50 = 54+/-4 microg/mL), but displayed weak activity in the DPPH* assay. The protein content of the tincture was 0.70%, and twenty free amino acids were identified and quantified. The content of total phenolics was 17.4+/-0.15 mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g dry material. These results provide scientific support for the empirical use of P. tithymaloides tincture as an anti-inflammatory medicine.
authors.affiliation: REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal. pma@dq.fct.unl.pt
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Abreu
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matthew
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Marcela A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Segundo
authors.forename: Eduarda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fernandes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001681:Biological Assay; D004487:Edema / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019665:Euphorbiaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D008297:Male; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D000975:Antioxidants; D010936:Plant Extracts; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species