Antioxidant Activity, Anti-Inflammatory and Analgesic Effects of Caralluma europaea (Eddaghmouss) in Mice

The aim of the current study is to evaluate the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and analgesic properties of ethanolic (100 and 200 mg/kg, p.o.) and ethyl acetate extracts (100 and 200 mg/kg, p.o.) of Caralluma europaea. Formalin-induced paw licking test, Acetic Acid induced Writhing Test and Hot-PlateTest were used to assess the analgesic activity. Xylene-induced ear edema test was used to evaluate anti-inflammatory activity of those extracts. In this work, the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography technique (HPLC), allowed us to identify and quantify the main phenolic compounds present in ethanolic and ethyl acetate extracts. In vitro anti-oxidant propriety was evaluated using two methods, the 2,2-Diphenyl-1Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging method and reducing power methods. The main phenols identified were Catechin (24%) and quercetin (18%) in ethanolic extract, while in the ethyl acetate extract, they were quercetin (36%), P-coumaric (30%) and 2-hydroxycinnamic (25%). Analysis of our results had shown that Caralluma europaea extracts had exhibited a very potent analgesic activity. Percentage of Pain Inhibition (PPI) in the writhing test, 63.60±4.24% for the Ethanolic Extract (EE) (200 mg/kg, p.o.) and 65.39±3.27% for the Ethyl Acetate Extract (EAE). The PPI of early and late phase in the formalin test were respectively, 41% and 73% for EAE (200 mg/kg; p.o), 28% and 75% for EE. In the hotplate test, latency to the thermal stimuli was increased in a dose dependent manner after the administration of EE and EAE. However, the analgesic potential of EAE seems to be higher than EE. Both EE and EAE presented a significant in vitro redox potential and high anti-inflammatory activity. Our results have shown that Caralluma europaea is rich in phenolic compounds and possesses an important antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activity.