The aqueous leaves extract of Ocimum gratissimum was investigated for anti-nociceptive and antiinflammatory effects in mice and rats. The models used to study the effect on nociception are the acetic acidinduced abdominal constriction test, hot-plate method in mice. The anti-inflammatory effect was investigated employing the formalin-induced hind-paw oedema in rats. The extract caused a significant (p<0.05), dosedependent inhibition of acetic acid-induced writhing and hot-plate method .The extract also exhibited antiinflammatory effect which was significant (P<0.001) at all the three doses. .The intraperitoneal LD 50 value of the extract was 1264.9mg/kg body weight in mice. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, tannins and flavonoids. The results suggest the extract contained pharmacologically active principles, and supports the local application of the plant in painful and inflammatory conditions.

The single oral dose pharmacokinetics of chloroquine (5mg/kg body weight) and metronidazole (7.5mg/kg body weight) were studied in rats' serum. Chloroquine and metronidazole concentrations were measured using highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method developed earlier in our laboratory. The data were fitted into a WinNonlin standard non-compartmental programme. The Maximum serum concentration Cmax (µg/ml) of chloroquine was 5.70 ± 1.41 while that of metronidazole was 3.13  0.30, Time to peak concentration tmax was 1.00  0.00 (h) and that of metronidazole was 0.83 ± 0.27, Volume of distribution Vd (L) 1.33 ± 0.26 for metronidazole 2.39  0.28; Elimination half-life t1/2 (h) 10.05 ± 3.01 for metronidazole 4.05  0.46. The values were comparable with the works of other authors. Compounds that show very high activity in -vitro may not have in vivo activity, or may be highly toxic using in-vivo models due to undesirable pharmacokinetic properties, and toxicity may result from formation of reactive metabolites. This study assures the quality of the brands of the drugs and encouraged the use of animal model in determining pharmacokinetic properties especially in drug design.