Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory properties from the bulbs of Cipura paludosa Aubl.

This study examined the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory actions of Cipura paludosa Aubl. in several models of inflammatory pain in mice and rats. The ethanolic extract (EE) from Cipura paludosa (1–300 mg/kg) given by i.p. and p.o. routes, 30 or 60 min earlier, produced a dose-dependent inhibition of the acetic acid-induced pain and Evans blue leakage in mice with ID50 values of 2.8 and 17.6 mg/kg and 17.2 and 176.1 mg/kg, respectively. The EE (10 mg/kg, i.p.) also inhibited the allodynia (39 ± 6%)- and oedema (97 ± 6%)-induced by the intraplantar injection of CFA. In addition, the EE (1–30 mg/kg, i.p.) inhibited both mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia induced by prostaglandin E2, PMA and bradykinin in the rat paw, with ID50 values of 7.3, 12.1 and 4.7 and 13.9, 18.9 and 1.5 mg/kg, respectively. These data demonstrate that EE of Cipura paludosa elicited pronounced antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory actions against some models of inflammatory pain in mice and rats. The mechanism by which the extract produced antinociception still remains unclear, but a great part of this effect seems to be related to modulation of the release or action of pro-inflammatory mediators. Moreover, the antinociceptive action demonstrated in the present study supports, at least partly, the ethnomedical uses of this plant.