Antiinflammatory screening of the medicinal plant Gynura procumbens

Abstract

Gynura procumbens is used in Thai folk medicine to treat topical inflammation, rheumatism, and viral ailments. In the present work, attempts were made to verify the folk medicinal claim that the crude ethanolic extract of G. procumbens has antiinflammatory action and to relate the activity to particular fractions using a croton oil-induced mouse ear inflammation model. The original ethanolic extract of G. procumbens was partitioned between water and ethyl acetate. The residues were subjected to antiinflammatory evaluation. While the water extract did not show any antiinflammatory activity, the administration of the original organic extract significantly inhibited the increase in ear thickness in response to croton oil (n = 5). The activity of 0.75 mg/ear original organic extract showed similar antiinflammatory activity (inhibition 65.2%) to that of 6 mg/ear hydrocortisone 21-hemisuccinate sodium salt (inhibition 64.8%). The organic extract was then fractionated with a series of solvents in order of increasing polarity. Each fraction was dried, dissolved in acetone and monitored using the same bioassay. These experiments showed that the hexane and toluene fractions showed significant inhibitions of 44.6% and 34.8%, respectively. These two fractions had similar activities to 4 mg/ear of hydrocortisone (inhibition 35.0%). The possible chemical constituents in the extracts and fractions were investigated using thin layer chromatography and specific color reagents. These tests showed that steroids might be one class of antiinflammatory compounds in this plant.

Medicinal plants with gastroprotective potential

“…Studies showed its activity against cancer, inflammation, diabetes and viral infections (Akowuah et al, 2002;Iskander et al, 2002). Antiulcer activity of ethanolic leaf extract of G. procumbens was evaluated in rats against ethanol induced gastric ulcerative lesions.…”

Induction, characterization, and NMR-based metabolic profiling of adventitious root cultures from leaf explants of Gynura procumbens

“…It has been extensively used as a traditional herbal medicine particularly in South East Asia. The plant is used for the treatment of many different ailments such as rash, kidney diseases, eruptive fever, hemorrhoids, and inflammation (Perry and Metzger 1980;Iskander et al 2002). The leaf of G. procumbens is not toxic (Rosidah et al 2009) and it has been used in folk medicine to control the blood sugar level of diabetic patients (Akowuah et al 2002).…”

“…Jiratchariyakul et al (2000) reported that the plant extracts have anti-replicative action against herpes simplex virus and identified 3,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid and 4,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid as the active components. Moreover, the leaf or aerial parts of G. procumbens showed an anti-inflammatory (Iskander et al 2002) and antihypertensive (Hoe et al 2007) activity but the chemical properties as regard to the respective activities need to be further studied.…”

Effect of PGRs in adventitious root culture in vitro: present scenario and future prospects

“…(Asteracea) is a medicinal plant used in South East Asia for treating various ailments such as hemorrhoids, inflammation, diabetes, etc. (Perry and Metzger 1980;Iskander et al 2002). The leaf is used in folk medicine to control the blood sugar level of diabetic patient.…”