The methanol extract of Euonymus laxiflorus, Rubia lanceolata and Gardenia jasminoides inhibits xanthine oxidase and reduce serum uric acid level in rats

•The methanol extract of ERG possessed X.O. inhibitory activity.•Oral administration of ERG/MeOH decreased serum urate level.•ERG/MeOH reduced the pain reaction time in the second phase.•ERG/MeOH has the potential to treat gout.

Chinese herbal medicinal plants, Euonymus laxiflorus (EL), Rubia lanceolata (RL) and Gardenia jasminoides (GJ), have been used wildly to treat arthritis and gout in Taiwan for decades. To understand the beneficial effects of these three plants, their xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitory activity in vitro and hypouricaemic activity in vivo were investigated. Our results suggested that methanol extracts were better than water extracts for inhibition of XO activity and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, except the water extract of GJ, which exhibited the strongest radical scavenging effect. In animal study, the serum urate level was significantly decreased after oral administration of higher dose (0.39 g/kg) methanol extract of the mixture of three plants (ERG). In addition, methanol extract of ERG reduced the pain reaction time in the second phase of formalin induced pain. The results provide useful information on the pharmacological activities of these plants for the potential in treating hyperuricemia.

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