Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of the Jatropha isabellei dichloromethane fraction and isolation and quantitative determination of jatrophone by UFLC-DAD

Abstract

Context: Jatropha isabellei Müll. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae) has been used in the traditional medicine to treat arthritis.

Objective: To evaluate the anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of the dichloromethane fraction (DF_Ji) from underground parts of J. isabellei, and to develop an analytical method to quantify the diterpene jatrophone.

Materials and methods: Anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of the DF_ji were determined by an acute arthritis model through assessment of the paw elevation time (PET) and articular diameter (AD) of Wistar rats treated orally (50, 100 or 200 mg/kg in a single-dose), and intravenously (0.1, 1, 10, 25 or 50 mg/kg in a bolus administration). The isolation of jatrophone from the DF_ji was carried out and confirmed by spectroscopic techniques. A UFLC-DAD method was developed and validated.

Results: When orally administered, the highest dose (200 mg/kg) of DF_Ji was able to significantly reduce the PET to 24.8 ± 1.4 s (p < 0.01), when compared with the control group (33.7 ± 1.8 s). The administration of the intravenous dose of 10 mg/kg reduced the PET to 14.8 ± 0.3 s (p < 0.001). The oral and intravenous administration of the DF_Ji at dose of 200 and 10 mg/kg significantly prevented the formation of edema, reducing the AD in 25.3% and 32.5% (p < 0.01), respectively. The UFLC-DAD method allowed the quantification of jatrophone, which was found to be around 90 μg/mg of fraction.

Discussion and conclusion: The DF_Ji displayed antinociceptive and antiedematogenic activities, representing a promising plant product for the arthritis treatment.

Keywords:

• Arthritis
• inflammation
• pain

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Central Laboratory of Structural Molecular Biology of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (CEBIME/UFSC), where the UFLC-DAD analyzes were carried out, and to Prof. Andersson Barison from the Chemistry Department of the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) for the NMR analyses.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study received financial support from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES, Brazil) and the National Council of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq, Brazil).