Anti-arthritic activity of Barleria prionitis Linn. leaves in acute and chronic models in Sprague Dawley rats

AimThe present investigation was designed to evaluate anti-arthritic potential of ethyl acetate fractions of chloroform extract from leaves of Barleria prionitis.Materials and methodsBarleria prionitis L. leaves were defatted by petroleum ether and then successive extraction was done with chloroform and methanol by the hot Soxhlet extraction method. Chloroform extract was further fractionated with solvent ethyl acetate to obtain EABP. This fraction was evaluated at two doses 125 and 250 mg/kg, against formaldehyde-induced acute non immunological and Freund’s Complete Adjuvant-induced chronic immunological arthritis in rats. Arthritis assessment, paw volume, body weight, motor incoordination and nociceptive threshold were measured.Haematological assessments of red and white blood cells, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, as well as histopathological studies were also done on day 21, after animals were sacrificed.ResultsDose dependent and significant inhibition of oedema was observed in both acute as well as chronic models. The extract at dose 250 mg/kg showed most potent and significant (P ⩽ 0.05–0.01) paw oedema inhibition which is supported by the results of body weight, biochemical parameters, motor incoordination and nociceptive threshold in Freund’s Complete Adjuvant-induced arthritis model.Treatment with EABP also decreased the histopathological alterations induced by Freund’s Complete Adjuvant.ConclusionIn the present investigation, extract protects synovial membrane by improving the health status through haematinic parameters and exhibits promising anti-arthritic activity. This finding thus supports the traditional use of Barleria prionitis for rheumatism. However, further studies are needed to carry out the isolation of active constituents of the fraction responsible for the activity.