Antiarthritic and antioxidant activities of Gossypium herbaceum plant (cotton plant) leaves

Gossypium herbaceum commonly known as cotton plant cultivated world over and the main produce is used by the textile industries. Other parts of this plant including leaves can also be explored for their best utilization, hence in this direction we have evaluated efficacy of cotton plant leaf extract against an inflammatory condition i.e rheumatoid arthritis. Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA) induced arthritis model was selected for this study and. All the rats received treatments of plant extract from 10th day of the induction of arthritis and continued up to 28 days of the study. Once in every 7 days, the arthritic assessments i.e. paw volume; body weight and paw erythema were assessed. Arthritic rats showed severe paw swelling, erythema, reduced body weight, abnormal changes in haematological, biochemical and antioxidant parameters (p<0.05) compared with normal control. Studies showed that treatment with MEGH (200mg/kg) was effective in reversing the symptoms and restore the normalcy by restoring the elevated parameters. Over all the plant proved useful in treating Rheumatoid Arthritis in rodents and further studies in this direction are necessary to understand its mechanism.