Antiinflammatory and analgesic properties of Erythrina indica Lamb.

Erythrina indica leaves are traditionally used in Kerala to treat inflammation, ulcers, earache etc. But its therapeutic potential has not been scientifically validated yet. We evaluated the antiinflammatory and analgesic properties of the ethanolic extract of E. indica leaves. We observed significant inhibition of carrageenan induced rat paw oedema in the extract treated groups at 250 and 500 mg/kg dose, at 3 h after carrageenan injection. E. indica extract at both the doses (250 & 500 mg/kg) inhibited acetic and acid induced writhing response in mice. In addition we observed significant antilipid peroxidant effects in vitro by the extract at 50 μg/ml. Phytochemical studies indicated that E. indica contained alkaloids and perhaps they are responsible for the antiinflammatory and analgesic effects.