Abstract

ANALGESIC AND ANTIPYRETIC EFFECTS OF AN AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF JUSTICIA FLAVA (FORSK) VAHL (ACANTHACEAE) IN MICE

Djè Kouamé Wenceslas Kouamé*, N’Guessan Jean-Baptiste Oussou, Kouakou Léandre Kouakou and Angoué Paul Yapo

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Abstract

Justicia flava is a plant used in traditional medicine for the treatment of abdominal pains and headaches. This study was aimed to evaluate the analgesic and antipyretic activities of the aqueous extract of Justicia flava (AEJf). Mice (Mus musculus) weighing between 20 and 30 g (8 to 12 weeks old) were used for each test. The acute analgesic effect of AEJf (62.5; 125; 250 and 500 mg/kg bw) was evaluated using experimental pain mice’s models. The formalin test (intramuscular injection of 50 μL of formalin (2.5 %) in mice) was used to evaluate the neurogenic and inflammation pain. Peripheral analgesy was assessed by injection of 0.6 % acetic acid in mice. Central analgesy was evaluated by the hot plate test. Pyrexia was experimentally induced using 20 % brewer’s yeast injected subcutaneously to mice, for the antipyretic study of the extract. The oral administration of AEJf showed that this extract significantly and dose-dependently inhibited the number of contortions induced by acetic acid. AEJf also significantly increased the reaction time of mice in the hot plate test. In addition, AEJf significantly inhibited neurogenic pain by 53.29% and inflammatory pain by 75.7% in the formalin test. AEJf caused significant reductions in brewer's yeast-induced hyperthermia. AEJf has, on the one hand, peripheral analgesic properties similar to aspirin and, on the other hand, central analgesic properties similar to tramadol and remarkable antipyretic properties as well.

Keywords: Analgesic, antipyretic, Justicia flava, Mice.