Analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity of the proanthocyanidin shellegueain A from Polypodium feei METT.

Analgesic and antiinflammatory activity of proanthocyanidin isolated from Polypodium feei roots has been tested using acetic acid-induced writhing and carrageenan-induced paw edema methods, respectively. The compound at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg significantly decreased writhing responses of mice induced by 0.7 % acetic acid along the 60 min test in a dose-dependent manner. The compound at a dose of 100 mg/kg gave the percent protection of 76.23 higher than that of acetylsalicylic acid (59.84 %) at a dose of 50 mg/kg. In the antiinflammatory test, this compound caused significant inhibition of the rats' plantar edema induced by 1 % of carrageenan, but this activity was observed only at a higher dose (200 mg/kg). These findings suggest that proanthocyanidin of P. feei roots might have analgesic and antiinflammatory activity, and its mechanism of action might be due to the inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis, because the proanthocyanidin fraction had an inhibitory effect on cyclooxygenase, but not on 5-lypoxygenase enzymes.