Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory efficacies of polyherbal formulations and elixirs traditionally used in Mauritius for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is historically linked with disability and no cure for the disease has been found. This has encouraged a renaissance of traditional medicine for the management of this condition in Mauritius. There are a number of traditional herbal medicines for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. This study aimed to determine the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, as well as the phytocomposition, of the locally available polyherbal formulations used in the management of rheumatoid arthritis; particularly as no previous studies have reported on their biological activities. Flavonoids and proanthocyanidins were the predominant phenolic compounds identified in the four selected herbal formulations (A–D) and two elixirs (Harpago and Hemidesmus). The Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity and hypochlorous acid assays showed scavenging potentials of 0.20–0.49 mmol Trolox equivalent/g and IC50 values ranging from 0.03 to 0.37 mg/mL, respectively. Similarly, from the herbal formulations, formulation C had the highest reducing power (0.55 ± 0.02 mmol Fe(II)/g), while formulation B was a potent iron (II) ion chelator. The herbal formulations also showed anti-inflammatory activity in a dose-dependent manner, with formulation B exhibiting a calculated IC50 value of 0.30 ± 0.01 mg/mL. Hemidesmus was a more potent inhibitor of xanthine oxidase than Harpago, with an IC50 value of 0.30 ± 0.04 μL/mL. Thus, the xanthine oxidase inhibitory and antioxidant effects of the herbal formulations may partially explain their general anti-inflammatory properties, corresponding to their use in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in Mauritian folk medicine.