Abstract

Study of analgesic activities of the plant Spilanthes acmella var; Oleracea in experimental animals models

Author(s): T.Veerashekhar, I.J.Kuppast

The analgesic activity of extracts of the plant Spilanthes acmella Var;oleracea was studied in albino rats of wistar strain. The extraction of Spilanthes acmella Var;oleracea were carried out using distilled water and ethanol. Ethanolic extract was fractioned using ethyl acetate, diethyl ether, petroleum ether and butanol extracts in succession. In the present studies aqueous extract of Spilanthes acmella Var;oleracea was evaluated for its peripheral activity of acetic acid induced writhing response in albino mice, central analgesic activity by tail flick method in albino rats. It was found that the aqueous extract of Spilanthes acmella Var;oleracea has very good peripheral analgesic activity and significant central analgesic activity in comparison to that of aspirin and pethidine respectively. The activity was found to be more significant on acetic-acid induced model (P<0.001) than the tail flick model (P<0.001) and thus it appear that the test drug inhibits predominantly the peripheral pain mechanism.