ANTINOCICEPTIVE ACTIVITY OF ADIANTUM CAPILLUS IN EXPERIMENTAL ANIMALS

Abstract

In present study 50% ethanolic extract of whole plant of Adiantum capillus (ACE) was evaluated for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects in animals at different doses 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg by different method. Eddy’s hot plate method, writhing test, formalin test and carrageenan induced revealed that ACE possessed varying degree of analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity significant at 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg and highly significant at 300 mg/kg in comparison to control. In acetic acid induced writhing test, maximum inhibition of writhing was observed at 300 mg/kg where the number of writhes decreased from 40.32 to 18.32 indicating 54.56% inhibition. While formalin induced pain (0.05 ml of 2.5%) was significantly blocked only at higher dose (300 mg/kg) in first phase. ACE significantly blocked pain emanating from inflammation at all the doses in second phase. The reaction time in hot plate was increased significantly and dose dependently whereas pretreatment with diclofenac sodium reduced the analgesic potentials of ACE.