Scientific investigation of crude alkaloids from medicinal plants for the management of pain

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Niaz Ali¹  Mohammad Shoaib²  Abd Ullah²  Mehreen Ghias²  Asad Ullah²  Ismail Shah²  Wajid Akbar²  Syed Wadood Ali Shah²  Shafi Ullah²  Muhammad Nawaz Tahir³  Sohail Akhtar⁴  Farah Gul⁵ 

[1] Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan;Department of Pharmacy, University of Malakand, Malakand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan;Department of Physics, University of Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan;Department of Statistics, University of Malakand, Malakand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan;Pharmacology Section, PCSIR Laboratories Complex, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan;

关键词: Crude alkaloids;    Woodfordia fruticosa;    Peganum harmala;    Traditional uses;    Pain;    Naloxone;    Opioid;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12906-016-1157-2

 received in 2015-09-18, accepted in 2016-06-03,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTissue damage is associated with pain, which is an alarming sign. Aspirin and morphine have been widely used in recent decades for management of pain. Medicinal herbs have been in use for treatment of different diseases for centuries. Many of these herbs possess analgesic activity with relatively less incidences of adverse effects. The strong positive correlation of alkaloids in medicinal plants for analgesic activity persuades an intention to determine possible analgesic activity of total alkaloids extracted from the selected medicinal plants using animal models to answer its possible mechanisms.MethodsCrude alkaloids from selected medicinal plants (Woodfordia fruticosa, Adhatoda vasica, Chenopodium ambrosioides, Vitex negundo, Peganum harmala and Broussonetia papyrifera) were extracted as per reported literature. The test crude alkaloids were screened foracute toxicity study. Writhings induced by acetic acid, tail immersion method and formalin-induced nociception assay procedures were used for possible analgesic effects of the crude alkaloids.ResultsCrude alkaloids were safe up to dose of 1250 mg/kg body weight in mice. The alkaloids significantly reduced the abdominal constrictions, and increased the time for paw licking response in both phases with a significant raise in latency time in nociception models (P ≤ 0.05). Moreover, the antinociceptive response was significantly attenuated by pretreatment with naloxone suggesting involvement of the opioid receptors for possible antinociceptive action.ConclusionsCrude alkaloids of Woodfordia fruticosa and Peganum harmala showed prominent analgesic potentials through inhibition of peripheral as well as central nervous system mechanisms. Further work is required for isolation of the pharmacologically active constituents.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016