Investigation of Analgesic and Neuropharmacological Activities of Methanolic Bark Extract of Mimusops Elengi

The methanolic bark extract of Mimusops elengi was investigated for its possible analgesic and neuropharmacological activities on mice at the doses of 100mg/kg, 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg body weight. For the evaluation of analgesic activity, tail immersion and acetic acid induced writhing tests were used. The neuropharmacological activity of the extract was screened using hole cross and open field tests to investigate the central nervous system depressant (CNS) activity. In tail immersion test, the extract produced a significant (p < 0.05-0.001) increase of latent time to flick tail compared to control in a dose dependent manner. In acetic acid-induced writhing test, the extract, at a dose of 400 mg/kg, showed a maximum of 65.48% inhibition (p <0.001) of writhing compared to the control while the reference drug Diclofenac-Na inhibited 76.36% of writhing. In CNS depressant activity tests, the extract significantly (p < 0.05-0.001) decreased motor activity and exploratory behavior of mice in hole cross and open field tests respectively. These results suggest that the extract possesses analgesic and CNS depressant activity. INTRODUCTION: Each type of modern drugs currently used for the management of pain and inflammatory conditions (opioids or non-narcotics, salicylates and corticosteroids e.g. hydrocortisone) have well known adverse effects. Moreover, synthetic drugs are very expensive to develop since, for the successful development of a new product usually costs in the range of 0.5 to 5 million dollars. On the contrary, many medicinal herbs have been used as a form of therapy for the relief of pain throughout history without any adverse effects . It is therefore, essential that efforts should be made to introduce new medicinal plants to develop drugs which are cheaper, safer and more effective. Plants still represent a massive untapped source of structurally novel compounds that might serve as lead for the development of novel drugs . Mimusops elengi commonly known as Bakul (Bengali name) belongs to the family Sapotaceae and is a small to large evergreen tree found all over the different parts of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India . It is 5-8 m tall and is cultivated in gardens as an ornamental tree for sweet-scented flowers. It has been used in the indigenous system of medicine for the treatment of various ailments. Several therapeutic uses such as cardiotonic, alexipharmic, stomachic, anthelmintic and astringent have been ascribed to the bark of Mimusops elengi 4, . The barks and fruits of this plant are used in the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery, and a decoction of the bark is used as a gargle. The pounded seeds