摘要
The present study was aimed to investigate the anti-arthritic activity of alcoholic extract ofClerodendron inerme which was shown to inhibit inflammatory process. Arthritis was induced in rats by injecting rats intradermally with Freund＇s adjuvant 0.01%-0.1% in paraffin oil. They were grouped and received 10 mg/100 gm b.wt. of alcoholic fraction of C. inerme, 1.5 mg/100 gm b.wt. hydrocortisone and saline, orally, for 15 days. The arthritic scores, radiological scores, body weights, liver glycogen, serum mucoproteins were monitored for 49 days. Wilcoxan ranking methods and Student＇s t Test were used to determine the significance changes between control and treated groups. Adjuvant-arthritic rats showed a significant decrease in body weight, liver glycogen, increased serum mucoprotein and severity of periostitis and other degenerative changes m the bone. But treatment with the alcoholic fraction （apigenin, scutallarin and pectinolinergenin） of C. inerme exhibited a very good relief from the arthritic conditions by increasing the body weight, increased liver glycogen content and registered little degenerative changes in bones, suggesting long term anti-arthritic activity when compared to the control group. The anti-arthritic activity ofC. inetme alcoholic fraction was remarkable in this study. However, further studies are required to elucidate its full anti-arthritic potential.
