Anti-inflammatory activity of Vitis elongata

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Journal of ETHNO PHARMACOLOGY

Journal of Ethnopharmacology 48 (1995) 59-60

ELSEVIER

Short communication

Anti-inflammatory activity of Vitis elongata M . S a r w a r A l a m *a, N e e r a j C h o p r a a, K . K . Pillai b aDepartment of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Jamia Hamdard ( Hamdard University), Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi 110062, India bDepartment of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University), Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi 110062, India

Received 16 November 1994; revision received 1 June 1995; accepted 8 June 1995

Keywords: Vitis elongata; Anti-inflammatory

1. Introduction

Vitis elongata Wall (Vitaceae) commonly known as 'Ganga-sagar' is a glabrous large climber and its natural occurrence extends from Sikkim Himalayas to Bengal state of eastern India. The stems of the plant are widely used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in the Indian system of medicine. Lack of any work on the chemical and pharmacological investigation of this plant and its wide use as folk medicine prompted us to undertake the present study. 2. Materials and methods

2.1. Plant material The stems of Vitis elongata were collected in the

month of November 1992 from the campus of Mr Shams Jamal, Advocate at Arraria (Bihar). The plant was authenticated by Dr M.P. Sharma in the

Department of Botany of our university where a voucher specimen has been deposited. 2.2. Extraction

Air dried stems of Vitis elongata (1 kg) were exhaustively extracted (Soxhlet) with alcohol (95%) and concentrated under reduced pressure in a rotavapor at 40°C. The alcoholic extract (50 g) obtained was fractionated with petroleum ether and methanol. The petroleum ether solubles were chromatographed on a 1 m long and 5 cm wide column of silica gel (60-120 mesh, 560 g, BDH). The column was eluted with petrol, petrol-EtOAc (P/E). After eluting with 500 ml of petrol (Fr. I), 500 ml of 2% E/P (Fr. II), 500 ml of 5% E/P (Fr. Ill), 500 ml of 7% E/P (Fr. IV) and 500 ml of 10% E/P (Fr. V) were obtained. Fr. III, IV and V were in meagre quantity and their activity could not be assessed. 2.3. Anti-inflammatory test

* Corresponding author.

Anti-inflammatory activity was tested against carrageenin induced paw oedema in rats (Gupta,

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M.S. Alam et aL / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 48 (1995) 59-60

Table i Effect of methanolic and petroleum ether fractions of Vitis elongata in carrageenin-induced inflammation in rats Substance

Control Oxyphenbutazone Methanolic fraction of Vitis elongata Petroleum ether fraction I of Vitis elongata Petroleum ether fraction II of Vitis elongata

Dose mg/kg, p.o. ml + S.E.

Foot volume after 4 h

Percentage inhibition

-100 100

1.16 ± 0.03 0.84 :t: 0.06* 0.896 ± 0.004'

-27.41 25.33

100

0.98 ± 0.04*

15.34

100

1.06 ± 0.02

8.62

n = 5/group; *ANOVA, P = 0.05 vs controls.

1993) in comparison with oxyphenbutazone. Wistar rats (from Central Animal House, Jamia Hamdard) weighing between 130 and 200 g were used. The rats were housed in colony cages at an ambient temperature of 25°C with 12 h light/dark cycle. The rats had free access to rat feed pellets (Gold Mohur Rat Feed, Lipton India Ltd.) and drinking water. Animals were divided into 5 groups of 5 rats each. One group served as the negative control and received normal saline, the second group served as the positive control and received oxyphenbutazone (100 mg/kg, p.o.), the third group received the methanolic fraction of Vitis elongata (100 mg/kg, p.o.) the fourth group received petroleum ether fraction I (100 mg/kg, p.o.) and the fifth group received petroleum ether fraction II (100 mg/kg, p.o.), respectively. Carrageenin (0.1 ml of a 1% suspension) was injected after 60 rain s.c. into the plantar region of the right hind paw. After 4 h hind paw volume was recorded with plethysmograph. The difference of the initial and final volume indicated the volume of inflammation.

Percentage inhibition produced by oxyphenbutazone and Vitis elongata was calculated in comparison with the control (100%). The observations recorded are summarized in Table 1.

2.4. Statistics Statistical analysis was carried out using analysis of variance followed by multiple comparisons (Armitage, 1985). 3. Results and discussion

Carrageenin increased paw volume in the control and treated animals. Methanolic fraction and petroleum ether fraction I reduced the carrageenin induced inflammation significantly ( P - 0.05 vs control). There was no behavioural or autonomic changes in the animals treated with the methanolic fraction and petroleum ether fractions. An oral dose up to 2560 mg of the methanolic fraction and petroleum ether fraction I and fraction II did not exhibit any mortality. 4. Conclusion

The result indicate that the methanolic fraction and petroleum ether fraction I of Vitis elongata exhibited anti-inflammatory activity, whereas the petroleum ether fraction II did not exhibit any anti-inflammatory activity. Acknowledgement

The authors thank Professor M. Iqbal, Dean, Faculty of Science and acting Head, Department of Chemistry for providing necessary facilities. References Armitage, P. and Berry, G. (1985) Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 2nd edition. Black-Well Scientific Publications, Edinburgh, UK, pp. 186-205. Gupta, S., Ali, M., Pillai, K.K. and Alam, M.S. (1993) Evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity of some constituents of Lawsonia inermis. Fitoterapia LXIV, 365-366.