Abstract
In Amazonas State (Brazil), Justicia acuminatissima (Miq.) Bremek., Acanthaceae, leaf teas are used in folk medicine to treat several inflammatory illnesses. In order to validate this medicinal application, we analyzed the acute toxicity and antioxidant, antiedematogenic and antinociceptive potentials of an aqueous extract of this species, using culture cells and animal models. The aqueous extract did not cause toxic effects on human lymphocytes in high concentration (400 μg/ml), neither on mice treated with high doses (5000 mg/kg) in an acute toxicity analysis by oral route, and also did not cause lesions in the gastric mucosa of animals treated with 300 mg/kg, which was the maximal dose used in the anti-inflammatory screening. The aqueous extract caused inhibition of inflammatory pain in formalin-induced paw licking test with all tested doses, 30, 100 and 300 mg/kg, and antiedematogenic activity at 100 and 300 mg/kg. Additionally, the aqueous extract presented statistically significant action on the release of nitric oxide by lipopolysaccharide-activated macrophages. These results and other preliminary studies support the folk use of this species, and further investigation of its action mechanism by inhibition of COX-2 or related metabolite would be interesting.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Ahmed, S.A., Gogal, R.M., Walsh, J.E., 1994. A new rapid and simple non-radioactive assay to monitor and determine the proliferation of lymphocytes: an alternative to [3H]thymidine incorporation assay. J. Immunol. Methods 170, 211–224.
Augustin, J.M., Kuzina, V., Andersen, S.B., Bak, S., 2011. Molecular activities, biosynthesis and evolution of triterpenoid saponins. Phytochemistry 72, 435–457.
Blackler, R.W., Gemici, B., Manko, A., Wallace, J.L., 2014. NSAID-gastroenteropathy: new aspects of pathogenesis and prevention. Curr. Opin. Pharmacol. 19, 11–16.
Côrrea, G.M., (Tese de Doutorado) 2013. Estudo fitoquímico de Justicia acuminatissima (Acanthaceae): caracterização química, avaliação biológica, contaminação fúngica e detecção de produtos radiolíticos. Programa de Pós-graduação em Química, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, 282 pp.
Côrrea, G.M., Alcântara, A.F.C., 2012. Chemical constituents and biological activities of species of Justicia–a review. Rev. Bras. Farmacogn. 22, 220–238.
Côrrea, G.M., Abreu, V.G.C., Silva, T.M., Martins, D.A.A., Fontoura, H.S., Cara, D.C., Piló-Veloso, D., Alcântara, A.F.C., 2014a. Glycosylated luteolin derivatives isolates from leaves of Justicia acuminatissima–structural elucidation and antiinflammatory activity investigated by experimental and theoretical methods. Int. J. Pharm. Phytochem. 29, 1256–1265.
Côrrea, G.M., Abreu, V.G.C., Martins, D.A.A., Takahashi, J.A., Fontoura, H.S., Cara, D.C., Piló-Veloso, D., Alcântara, A.F.C., 2014b. Anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities of steroids and triterpenes isolated from aerial parts of Justicia acuminatissima (Acanthaceae). Int. J. Pharm. Pharm. Sci. 6, 75–81.
Dovizio, M., Alberti, S., Guillem-Llobat, P., Patrignani, P., 2014. Role of platelets in inflammation and cancer: novel therapeutic strategies. Basic Clin. Pharmacol. 114, 118–127.
Gamper, N., Ooi, L., 2014. Redox and nitric oxide-mediated regulation of sensory neuron ion channel function. Antioxid. Redox Sign., 1–19.
Ganesh, T., 2014. Prostanoid receptor EP2 as a therapeutic target. J. Med. Chem. 57, 4454–4465.
Harirforoosh, S., Asghar, W., Jamali, F., 2013. Adverse effects of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs: an update of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and renal complications. J. Pharm. Pharm. Sci. 16, 821–847.
Jain, P.K., Joshi, H., 2011. Coumarin: chemical and pharmacological profile. J. Appl. Pharm. Sci. 2, 236–240.
Kangwan, N., Park, J.M., Hahm, K.B., 2014. Development of GI-safe NSAID: progression from the bark of willow tree to modern pharmacology. Curr. Opin. Pharmacol. 19, 17–23.
Kawahara, K., Hohjoh, H., Inazumi, T., Tsuchiya, S., Sugimoto, Y., 2014. Prostaglandin E2-induced inflammation: relevance of prostaglandin E receptors. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1–8.
Koeberle, A., Werz, O., 2014. Multi-target approach for natural products in inflammation. Drug Discov. Today 19, 1871–1882.
Lapa, A.J., Souccar, C., Lima-Landman, M.T.R., Castro, M.S.A., Lima, T.C.M., 2008. Métodos de avaliação da atividade farmacológica de plantas medicinais. UNIFESP/EPM, São Paulo.
Lariviere, W.R., Fiorenzani, P., Ceccarelli, I., Massafra, C., Sorda, G., Canio, C.D., Aloisi, A.M., 2011. Central CRH administration changes formalin pain responses in male and female rats. Brain Res. 1383, 128–134.
Malone, M.H., Robichaud, R.C., 1962. A hippocratic screen for pure or crude drug materials. Lloydia 25, 320–322.
Ndengele, M.M., Cuzzocrea, S., Esposito, E., Mazzon, E., Di Paola, R., Matuschak, G.M., Salvemini, D., 2008. Cyclooxygenases 1 and 2 contribute to peroxynitritemediated inflammatory pain hypersensitivity. FASEB J. 22, 3154–3164.
Rochette, L., Lorin, J., Zeller, M., Guilland, J.C., Lorgis, L., Cottin, Y., Vergely, C., 2013. Nitric oxide synthase inhibition and oxidative stress in cardiovascular diseases: possible therapeutic targets? Pharmacol. Therapeut. 140, 239–257.
Salvemini, D., Wang, Z.Q., Bourdon, D.M., Stern, M.K., Currie, M.G., Manning, P.T., 1996b. Evidence of peroxynitrite involvement in the carrageenan-induced rat paw edema. Eur. J. Pharmacol. 303, 217–220.
Salvemini, D., Wang, Z.Q., Wyatt, P.S., Bourdon, D.M., Marino, M.H., Manning, P.T., Currie, M.G., 1996a. Nitric oxide: a key mediator in the early and late phase of carrageenan-induced rat paw inflammation. Br. J. Pharmacol. 118, 829–838.
Verdam, M.C.S., Ohana, D.T., Lima, E.S., Pereira, M.M., Gáspari, J.F., 2009. Estudo da influência de Justicia acuminatissima (Miq.) Bremek. sobre a agregação plaquetária e coagulação sanguínea. Visão Acadêmica 10, 35–39.
Verma, N., Chakrabarti, R., Das, R.H., Gautam, H.K., 2012. Anti-Inflammatory effects of shea butter through inhibition of iNOS, COX-2, and cytokines via the Nf-Kb pathway in LPS-activated J774 macrophage cells. J. Compl. Integr. Med. 9, 1–11.
Vinegar, R., Schreiber, W., Hugo, R., 1969. Biphasic development of carrageenan edema in rats. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 166, 96–103.
Winter, C.A., Risley, E.A., Nuss, G.W., 1962. Carrageenan-induced paw edema in hind paw of the rat as an assay for anti-inflammatory drugs. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 111, 544–554.
World Health Organization (WHO), 2003. WHO Guidelines on Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) for Medicinal Plants. World Health Organization, Geneva.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas (FAPEAM) and CNPq (CT-AMAZONIA) for financial support of this research. ESL is a member of National Institute of Sciences and Technology — INCT Redoxoma.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
MCSV contributed in collecting plant sample and identification, confection of herbarium, running the laboratory work and analysis of the data. FGS contributed in analysis of the data and drafted the paper. GSB, ALM, CIFBO, PDOA and MCV contributed to biological studies. TMM contributed to chromatographic analysis and analysis of the data. ESM contributed to critical reading of the manuscript. DTO and MMP designed the study, supervised the laboratory work and contributed to critical reading of the manuscript. All the authors have read the final manuscript and approved the submission.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Rights and permissions
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Verdam, M.C.S., Guilhon-Simplicio, F., Barbosa, G.S. et al. Anti-inflammatory action of Justicia acuminatissima leaves. Rev. Bras. Farmacogn. 25, 264–268 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjp.2015.05.002
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjp.2015.05.002