Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of the Isomeric Mixture of Alpha- and Beta-Amyrin from Protium heptaphyllum(Aubl.) March

Abstract

In the present work, we demonstrated that the mixture of alpha- and beta-amyrin (AMI) from Protium heptaphyllum has antinociceptive activity as was evident from the writhing and formalin tests in mice. AMI (10 and 50 mg/kg, i.p.) inhibited writhing in 73 and 94%, respectively, while preferentially inhibiting the 2nd phase of the response (37 and 51; and 60 and 73% inhibitions of the 1st and 2nd phases, respectively) to the formalin test. Naloxone, an opioid antagonist, did not reverse the antinociceptive effect. AMI (50 mg/kg, i.p.) was also active in the hot plate test, increasing the reaction time to thermal stimulus after 30 and 60 min, by 62 and 71%, respectively. A preventive antiedematogenic effect was observed in mice that had a carrageenan-induced paw edema. Paw volume was significantly and dose-dependently decreased by 39, 42 and 53%, three hours after administration of 10, 25 and 50 mg/kg doses, i.p., respectively. AMI (25 and 50 mg/kg, i.p.) was also able to reverse the edema already induced by carrageenan (curative effect). AMI (10 and 25 mg/kg, i.p.) was equally effective in the dextran- induced paw edema (preventive effect), reducing the paw volume by 50 and 60% at the 2nd hour, and by 63 and 73% at the third hour post-dose. AMI (50 mg/kg, i.p.) reverted the edema already formed after the dextran injection (curative effect). In conclusion, AMI demonstrated peripheral and central analgesic effects independent of the opioid system, and also showed a potent anti-inflammatory activity. The antiinflammatory activity was potentiated by both indomethacin and thalidomide, suggesting a potential involvement of prostaglandins and TNFalpha inhibitions.

Analysis of triterpenoids and phytosterols in vegetables by thin-layer chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry

“…They can exist as free compounds or in the form of esters and saponins. Pharmacological studies of triterpenoids showed anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcerogenic, anti-microbial, anti-viral (including anti-HIV), anti-fungal, analgesic, antioxidative, hepatoprotective and some other activities [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Phytosterols are well known for their cholesterol-lowering properties, and also demonstrate anticancer, anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory activities [11,12].…”

Untitled

“…OBV, however, in addition contained several other compounds like eucalyptol, linalool, borneol acetate, alpha-bergamoten, germacrene and a triterpenoid alpha-amyrin (Table 4). These compounds have been reported to exhibit antiinflammatory activity [29][30][31] or detected in essential oils reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity 32,33 . This might explain the significantly higher anti-inflammatory activity of OBV compared to OBHE.…”

Phytochemical Studies

“…Taraxerol has reported to have analgesic (Biswas et al 2009), antibacterial and cytotoxic (Online document 1) activities. Alpha-and Beta-amyrin possess analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, sedative, anxiolytic and platelet aggregation inhibition activities (Aragão 2004;Aragao et al 2008). Alpha-amyrin also possesses antihyperglycemic (Singh et al 2009) and beta-amyrin possesses antidepressant activity (Subarnas et al 1993).…”