Evaluation of Anti-inflammatory activity of selected medicinal plants of Cucurbitaceae family

Abstract

In the past decade, much progress has been made in understanding the pathophysiology of inflammation and the implication of free radicals in it. Steroid drugs are usually used for treating inflammatory diseases but it requires prolonged treatment and also it causes serious issues. Therefore there is a need to search for alternate treatments. From this perspective, several medicinal plants have been proven to be efficient in treating inflammation and pain. At present, researchers are interested in examining pharmacological impacts and its mode of action of medicinal plants by in-vitro and in-vivo models. Therefore, in this study the methanol and petroleum ether leaf extracts of Momardica charantia, Citrullus lanatus, Coccinia grandis and Lagenaria siceraria were studied for anti-inflammatory activity using protein denaturation assay.