G. N Bader

Aqueous and hydro-alcoholic extracts of rhizome of Swertia petiolata were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activity against carrageenan induced rat hind paw oedema. Hydro-alcoholic extract decreased the inflammation by 66.66%, 68.10% and 77.7% at 1, 2 and 3 hours post treatment, while as the aqueous extract decreased the inflammation by 68%, 68% and 70.30% respectively. Aceclofenac (used as a standard anti-inflammatory allopathic control) could alleviate the inflammation to 62%, 64.05% and 66.66% under the identical experimental conditions. The extracts also exhibited good analgesic activity when tested by Tail Flick, Tail Clip and Hot plate Methods. The analgesic activity was evidenced by an increase in the reaction time by 8 and 7.5 seconds, 1 hour post treatment of hydro-alcoholic and aqueous extracts, respectively as determined by tail flick method.  The analgesic activity was also confirmed by tail clip and hot plate methods. In the tail clip method the increase in reaction time was by 8 and 8.1 seconds. Whereas by hot plate method it was 7.7 and 7.5 seconds. Aceclofenac under the similar conditions increased the reaction time by 9.5, 9.5 and 9.2 seconds respectively by the above methods.