Oroxylum indicum (Bignoniaceae) also known as Sonapatha is an indigenous medicinal plant widely used in Ayurvedic medicine for over thousands of years. It is an active ingredient of well-known Ayurvedic formulations such as Chyawanprash and Dasamula. Root bark of this plant has tonic and astringent properties and it is also used in rheumatism.
Objective:
The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the anti-arthritic activity of different extracts of root bark of Oroxylum indicum against adjuvant - induced arthritis in rats.
Materials and Methods:
Male Wistar rats were used in this study. Arthritis was induced by injecting 0.1 ml Freund's complete adjuvant intra-dermally into the left hind paw of the rats. The paw volume, hematological, biochemical, radiographic and histopathological aspects were evaluated.
Results:
The relative percentage inhibition potential of paw volume in rats treated with various extracts of Oroxylum indicum was found to be ethyl acetate extract (67.69%) >chloroform extract (64.61%) >n-butanol extract (58.46%) respectively. The hematological parameters like RBC count, hemoglobin content showed significant increase while there was a significant decrease in total WBC count and ESR in all the groups of animals pretreated with root bark extracts. The biochemical parameters such as catalase, glutathione contents showed a significant increase while the lipid peroxide and Cathepsin-D content decreased significantly only in case of ethyl acetate pretreated rats when compared to others.
Conclusion:
The present study suggests that the chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol extracts of root bark of Oroxylum indicum exhibit anti-arthritic activity. The order of activity of extracts was found to be ethyl acetate >chloroform >n-butanol respectively.
Keywords: Anti-arthritic activity, biochemical parameters, Freund's complete adjuvant, histopathology, Oroxylum indicum
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