Original Articles
Charles A Dumaro, Emmanuel Eti
Abstract
Randia hispida K.Schum is a medicinal plant used by the Ijaws in the Niger delta region of Nigeria to treat inflammation, pyrexia and bacterial infection. In our continuing search for bioactive plant metabolites from Nigeria Medicinal plant as anti-inflammatory agents, the root bark of Randia hispida was investigated. The dichloromethane and 70% methanol extracts were screened for anti-inflammatory acitivity using xylene induced ear oedema in mice and egg albumin induced oedema in rats. The result revealed that dichloromethane extract at 486 mg/kg was the most active on both xylene induced oedema and egg albumin induced oedema with 66.7% inhibition which was comparable to dexamethasone 4mg/kg, while on egg albumin induced oedema at the same dose, the extract showed effect at the late phase of inflammation by inhibiting 80.3% inflammation compared to the standard drug used Acetyl salicylic acid (4mg/kg). Column chromatography of the dichloromethane extract using silica gel G and sephadex LH-20 led to the isolation of β-sitoistero(I) and ursolic acid (II). The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated using NMR and MS and compared with literature data. This is the first report of these compounds from the plant. These compounds have been known to possess anti-inflammatory activity.