Evaluation of anti-inflammatory and healing activities of dichloromethane fraction of an ethanol extract of stem bark of Piliostigma reticulatum

The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of the dichloromethane fraction of an ethanol extract of Piliostigma reticulatum, a medicinal plant from Côte d’Ivoire and widely used by traditional healers against inflammatory diseases. Inflammation is characterized by redness, pain and swelling. Anti-inflammatory drugs are agents that reduce inflammation. In vivo studies of reduction of wound diameter and the test of carrageenan 1% were used for this work. For reducing wound diameter, fraction effects were tested in wound induced rats. The percentage of wound reduction was determined. Furthermore, fraction effect on acute inflammation induced by carrageenan 1% was studied. The dichloromethane fraction at a dose of 200 mg/kg body weight reduces significantly the wounds surfaces at 61.88% of inhibition at 15 day and 94.33% of inhibition at 30 day. This action was similar to the one provoked by betadine with a wound surface of 97.63% of inhibition at the thirtieth day. The dichloromethane fraction like the diclofenac reduced significantly the volume of edema from 0.7 ± 0.2 to 0.2 ± 0.1* ml (71.42% of inhibition) for 600 mg/kg body weight, the high dose. The study of acute toxicity showed that the dichloromethane fraction at high doses, could reduced mobility in mice and provoked death. The observation of anti-inflammatory and healing activities suggest that the use of Piliostigma reticulatum in traditional medicine to treat inflammatory diseases could be justified. Phytochemical screening showed that the most active fraction contains: flavonoids, tannins, reducing sugars and polyphenols.