Analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of Buddleja globosa, Buddlejaceae

Ethnopharmacological relevanceBuddleja globosa, known as “matico”, is employed in Chile for wound healing.Aim of the studyTo validate the traditional use of the crude drug through in vivo and in vitro evaluation of the anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antioxidant properties of its extracts.Materials and methodsSequential hexane, dichloromethane, methanol and total methanol extracts were studied using bioguided fractionation. The following activities were investigated: analgesic (writhing test), oral and topic anti-inflammatory (paw- and ear-induced edema), free radical scavenging and antioxidant activities (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, DPPH, superoxide anion, lipid peroxidation and xanthine oxidase inhibition). Sodium naproxen, nimesulide, indomethacin were used as reference drugs for in vivo, quercetin and allopurinol for in vitro assays.ResultsA mixture of α- and β-amyrins was isolated from the hexane extract that showed 41.2% of analgesic effect at 600 mg/kg, inhibited by 47.7 and 79.0% the arachidonic acid (AA) and 12-deoxyphorbol-13-decanoate (TPA)-induced inflammation at 3 mg/20 μL/ear, respectively. A mixture of β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, stigmastenol, stigmastanol and campesterol was isolated from the fraction CD4-N and β-sitosterol-glycoside from the fraction CD5-N, reducing TPA-induced inflammation by 78.2 and 83.7% at 1 mg/20 μL/ear, respectively. The fraction CD4-N at 300 mg/kg also showed analgesic activity (38.7%). The methanol extract at 600 mg/kg per os showed anti-inflammatory effect (61.4%), topic anti-inflammatory (56.7% on TPA) and analgesic activity (38.5%). Verbascoside and luteolin-7-O-glucoside were the major components of the methanol extract; apigenin 7-O-glucoside was also detected. Inhibition of superoxide anion, lipoperoxidation, and DPPH bleaching effect was found in the methanol serial and global extracts.ConclusionsThe present report demonstrate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of Buddleja globosa and validate its use in Chilean traditional medicine.