Analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic activities of Caesalpinia decapetala

INTRODUCTION In many pathological conditions, pain, inflammation and fever are interdependent to each other. Due to the use of synthetic drugs, many unwanted effects usually appear. Various studies have been conducted on Caesalpinia decapetala (C. decapetala) to evaluate its effects in the treatment of various diseases but no sufficient scientific literature is available online to prove its analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic activities. METHODS The analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic activities of 70% aqueous methanolic and n-hexane extracts of C. decapetala was evaluated using Swiss albino mice (20-30 g). RESULTS The results showed that aqueous methanolic extract of C. decapetala at the dose of 100 mg/kg exhibited significant (p< 0.05) activities in various pain models including acetic acid-induced writhing (18.4 ± 0.53), formalin-induced licking (275 ± 4.18) and hot plate method (2.3 ± 0.0328); whereas,  n-hexane extract showed its effects in acetic acid-induced writhing (20 ± 0.31), formalin-induced licking (293 ± 1.20) and hot plate method (2.224 ± 0.029) compared to the effects observed in control group animals. Similarly, the aqueous methanolic extract of C. decapetala after 2 h of treatment exhibited more significant anti-inflammatory (0.66 ± 0.06) and anti-pyretic (38.81 ± 0.05) activities compared to the control group animals. CONCLUSION From the findings of our present study, we concluded that the aqueous methanolic extract of C. decapetala has stronger analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic effects than its n-hexane extract. Further studies are required to investigate the active constituents of C. decapetala that exhibit analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic activities.