Pharmacological studies on sterculia foetida leaves.

An alcoholic extract of Sterculia foetida L. leaves was subjected to pharmacological screening using various animal models. The extract caused reduced exploratory activity in mice. Further it potentiated pentobarbitone sleeping time in normal and chronic pentobarbitone-treated mice. It also potentiated barbital sodium-induced hypnosis, indicating central nervous system depressant activity. The extract also exhibited significant antiinflammatory activity in the acute carrageenan-induced rat paw edema and the chronic granuloma pouch models. However, it was devoid of analgesic activity in the tail flick model.