ROLE OF INFLAMMATORY MEDIATORS IN ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY OF WITHANIA SOMNIFERA

摘要

The present study was aimed to find out the role of inflammatory mediators viz., histamine, 5-HT and prostaglandines in anti-inflammatory activity of aqueous extract of Withania somnifera. The experiment was conducted on healthy Norwegian strain of albino rats of either sex weighing between 100-150 gm consisting six rats in each group. One group of rats was administered saline orally and was kept as control. The animals were fasted overnight before the experimentation, however, water was provided adlibitum. The anti-inflammatory activity of aqueous extract of W. somnifera was evaluated on carrageenin induced rat paw oedema following the method of Winter et al. (1962). The dose-response study of aqueous extract of W. somnifera was conducted in threegraded doses of 500, 750 and 1000 mg/kg body weight, administered intraperitoneally in rats. To fiad out the involvement of inflammatory mediators, standard blockers of inflammation were administered intraperitoneally half an hour before the administration of aqueous extract of W. somnifera viz, promethazine (10 mg/kg), cimetidine (20 mg/kg), cyproheptadine (10 mg/kg) and diclo-fenac (15 mg/kg) in different groups of rats.