Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory properties from the bulbs of Cipura paludosa Aubl.

This study examined the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory actions of Cipura paludosa Aubl. in several models of inflammatory pain in mice and rats. The ethanolic extract (EE) from Cipura paludosa (1-300 mg/kg) given by i.p. and p.o. routes, 30 or 60 min earlier, produced a dose-dependent inhibition of the acetic acid-induced pain and Evans blue leakage in mice with ID50 values of 2.8 and 17.6 mg/kg and 17.2 and 176.1 mg/kg, respectively. The EE (10 mg/kg, i.p.) also inhibited the allodynia (39 +/- 6%)- and oedema (97 +/- 6%)-induced by the intraplantar injection of CIA. In addition, the EE (1-30 mg/kg, i.p.) inhibited both mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia induced by prostaglandin E-2 PMA and bradykinin in the rat paw, with ID50 values of 7.3, 12.1 and 4.7 and 13.9, 18.9 and 1.5 mg/kg, respectively. These data demonstrate that EE of Cipura paludosa elicited pronounced antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory actions against some models of inflammatory pain in mice and rats. The mechanism by which the extract produced antinociception still remains unclear, but a great part of this effect seems to be related to modulation of the release or action of pro-inflammatory mediators. Moreover, the antinociceptive action demonstrated in the present study supports, at least partly, the ethnomedical uses of this plant. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.