Anti-inflammatory potential of ethanol leaf extract of Sphenocentrum jollyanum in experimental mice

Anti-inflammatory potential of the ethanol leaf extract of Sphenocentrum jollyanum (ELESJ) was assessed in-vivo in mice by using carrageenan-induced paw oedema, egg albumin-induced paw oedema, and xylene-induced ear oedema model at doses of 474.34, 948.68, and 1423.03 mg/kgbw respectively. A total of seventy-five matured mice of both sexes weighing between 20 g and 24 g (divided into three groups of 25 mice each for the 3 different studies) were used for this study. Treatment was done intraperitoneally. Distilled water (10 mL/kgbw), acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) (100 mg/kgbw) or dexamethasone (4 mg/kgbw) served as the normal and standard drugs respectively. The results showed that ELESJ produced significant (p < 0.05), dose-dependent and time-dependent reductions in mean paw thickness in groups III-V compared with control group. Similarly, the extract caused a dose-dependent increase in percentage inhibition of carrageenan-induced paw oedema and egg-albumin induced paw oedema (34.49%, 36.71%) at the highest dose (1423.03 mg/kg), comparable with the anti-inflammatory effects of the standard drug ASA (34.69%, 31.54%). The ELESJ also caused significant (p < 0.05), dose-dependent decreases in xylene-induced ear oedema weight in all the test groups relative to control group and standard drug group. In addition, ELESJ showed a dose-dependent percentage inhibitory effect (44%) at the highest dose (1423.03 mg/kg) comparable with that of the standard drug, dexamethasone (48%). The results obtained from this study support the use of the leaf in folk medicine as it has significant anti-inflammatory properties and this may be attributed to the phytochemical constituents of the leaf.