The aqueous root extract of Aristolochia ringens (Vahl.) Aristolochiaceae inhibits chemically-induced inflammation in rodents.

The potential of the aqueous root extract of Aristolochia ringens (AR) (10-100 mg/kg p.o) to inhibit inflammation induced by phlogistics was evaluated using the carrageenan and egg albumin induced rat paw oedema, formaldehyde induced arthritic inflammation and xylene induced mouse ear oedema models. AR (10-50 mg/kg) dose-dependently decreased rat paw oedema in the carrageenan and egg albumin induced inflammation, producing comparable inhibition of 57.1% and 65.6% to the 57.9% and 63.9% of indomethacin and diclofenac (10 mg/kg p.o) respectively at 50 mg/kg. AR (10-50 mg/kg) also dose dependently inhibited formaldehyde-induced arthritic paw oedema over the 10 day observation period, with a greater inhibition of 50% at 50 mg/kg than the 40.8% inhibition by diclofenac (10 mg/kg i.p). AR (50 mg/kg) also produced greater inhibition of 84.78% than the 65.21% by dexamethasone (1 mg/kg) in xylene-induced ear oedema. Results show that the aqueous root extract of Aristolochia ringens possesses antiinflammatory activity.