Abstract
Many medicinal herbs are used in folk medicine without taking into account their toxicity. Hamelia patens Jacq. (Rubiaceae), a Mexican endemic species, is used for the empirical treatment of pain. The aim of this work was to evaluate the toxicity and antinociceptive effects of ethanolic extracts of H. patens leaves. The toxicity of H. patens leaves (500–5000 mg/kg) was evaluated in acute (14 days) and subacute (28 days) assays. In the subacute assay, a blood analysis (both hematology and chemistry) was carried out. The antinociceptive effects of H. patens leaves (50–200 mg/kg) were evaluated using thermal-induced nociception (hot plate) and the chemical-induced nociceptive tests (acid acetic and formalin). In the acute toxicity test, the LD50 estimated for H. patens leaves was 2964 mg/kg i.p. and >5000 mg/kg p.o., whereas in the subacute test HPE did not affect hematological or biochemical parameters. In chemicalinduced nociception models, H. patens (100 and 200 mg/kg p.o.) showed antinociceptive effects with similar activity than 100 mg/kg naproxen. In the hot plate test, HPE at 100 mg/kg (17%) and 200 mg/kg (25%) showed moderate antinociceptive effects. HPE could be a good source of antinociceptive agents because of its good activity and low toxicity.
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This work was partially supported by Jovenes Investigadores program from CONCYTEG (provided to AJAC).
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AJAC, SBR and JRZM carried out the pharmacological studies. AJAC drafted the manuscript. AHM participated in the design of the study. MMGC performed the phytochemical studies. CCA conceived the study, and participated in its design and coordination and helped draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Alonso-Castro, A.J., Balleza-Ramos, S., Hernández-Morales, A. et al. Toxicity and antinociceptive effects of Hamelia patens. Rev. Bras. Farmacogn. 25, 170–176 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjp.2015.03.007
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjp.2015.03.007