Evaluation of Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory and Analgesic Activities of Leaves of Saba senegalensis (A.DC) Pichon (Apocynaceae)

Aims: To evaluate antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of extracts of Saba senegalensis leaves.

Study Design: In vitro antioxidant assay and in vivo anti-inflammatory, analgesic assay of Saba senegalensis extracts.

Place and Duration of Study: Saba senegalensis leaves, were collected in the Centre Region of Burkina Faso, in June–July 2015. The experiments were conducted at the department of Medicine and Traditional Pharmacopeia-Pharmacy (MEPHATRA-PH) of Institute of Research in Health Science (IRSS).

Methodology: The anti-oedematous tests with carrageenan and the analgesic with acetic acid and investigate effect on isolated organ were carried out. The standards were acetylsalicylic acid and paracetamol.

Results: After five hours of carrageenan-induced edema test, aqueous decoction (AD) presented better inhibition on all measure. In fact, at the different doses of 200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg, and 600 mg/kg it presented percentages of inhibitions respectively of 30.81%, 62.27% and 72.71%. For the analgesic test, the hydroethanol macerate (HEM) showed a better pain reduction compared to the AD with a maximum effect of 77.28% at 400 mg/kg. Antioxidant activity with AD and his fractions shows that AD showed a better activity for the DPPH assay with an IC50 of 1.74 ± 0.10 μg/mL and a reducing power of 59.53 ± 2.16 mmol ET/g Sample. For HEM and his fractions, the ethyl acetate fraction (FHEM-AcOEt) showed a better IC50 of 0.18 ± 0.01 μg/mL for the DPPH test and dichloromethane fraction (FHEM-DCM) a reducing power agent of 88.88 ± 2.65 mmol ET/g Sample. All fractions were endowed with antioxidant properties by both methods.

Conclusion: The study findings suggest that the presence of phenolic and terpenoid compounds could explain the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of these extracts.