@article {747, title = {Anti-inflammatory Activity of Ixora coccinea Methanolic Leaf Extract}, journal = {Pharmacognosy Research}, volume = {1}, year = {2009}, month = {January 2010 }, pages = {80-90}, type = {Original Article}, chapter = {80}, abstract = {

The anti-inflammatory activity of methanolic leaf extract (MLE) of Lxora coccinea Linn. (Rubiaceae) was investigated in this study. MLE showed dose-dependent anti-inflammatory activity in carrageenan-induced rat paw edema model (r = 0.7; P\<0.01). MLE at a dose of 500, 1000, and 1500 mg/kg showed maximum inhibition of edema 36.7, 46.5, and 64.5\% respectively (P\<0.01). Oral administration of MLE of rats at a dose of 1500 mg/kg significantly inhibited peritoneal phagocytic cell infiltration (45.9\%; P\<0.05), impaired nitric oxide (NO) production in peritoneal cells (40.8\%; P\<0.01) and showed antihistamine activity (54.9\%; P\<0.01). In vitro treatment of rat peritoneal cells with MLE inhibited NO production dosedependently (82.2\% at 400 μg/ml, r = 0.99; P\<0.05). MLE also possessed significant, dose-dependent in vitro anti-oxidant activity (r = 0.88; P\<0.01; IC50 value = 8.0 μg/ml), membrane stabilizing activity (r = 0.81; P\<0.01; IC50 value = 6.4 ng/ml) and lipid peroxidation activity (36.7\% at 250 μg/ml; P\<0.01). Thirty-day oral treatment of rats with 1500 mg/kg did not show any adverse signs of toxicity or behavioral changes. These results suggest that anti-inflammatory activity of\ L. coccinea is mediated via inhibition NO production, phagocytic cell infiltration, anti-histamine effect, scavenging of free radicals, membrane stabilizing activity and lipid peroxidation.

}, keywords = {anti-inflammatory activity, Cell infiltration, Lxora coccinea, Membrane stabilization, Nitric oxide, nti-oxidant}, doi = {Nil}, author = {S. M. Handunnetti and R. R. Kumara and S. A. Deraniyagala and W. D. Ratnasooriya} }