Nonato Fabiana Regina, Barros Tais Adelita Almeida, Lucchese Angélica Maria, Oliveira Carlos Eduardo Cordeiro, dos Santos Ricardo Ribeiro, Soares Milena Botelho Pereira, Villarreal Cristiane Flora
Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rua Waldemar Falcão 121, CEP 40296-710 Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2009 Aug 17;125(1):102-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2009.06.005. Epub 2009 Jun 12.
Blechnum occidentale L. is a terrestrial fern that ranges from the United States to South America, and is employed in Brazilian folk medicine. In the present study we investigated the antinociceptive and antiinflammatory activities of the methanolic extract of Blechnum occidentale L. (MEB) in animal models of pain and inflammation to support its medicinal use in treatment of inflammatory and pulmonary diseases, urinary infections and liver diseases.
The antinociceptive activity of MEB was evaluated using the writhing, formalin, and tail flick tests. The antiinflammatory activity of MEB was evaluated in carrageenan-induced paw oedema and neutrophil migration. In order to discard possible non-specific muscle relaxant or sedative effects of MEB, mice motor performance was evaluated in the rota rod test and its toxicity evaluated over 14 days.
Intraperitoneal (IP) administration of MEB (0.01-100mg/kg) produced a dose-related antinociception on acetic acid-induced writhing in mice. Oral administration of MEB, at a different range of doses (100-400 mg/kg), also produced significant antinociceptive effect on the writhing test. Furthermore, treatment with MEB (100 and 200 mg/kg IP) inhibited significantly both the early and late phases of formalin-induced hypernociception in rats. In contrast, treatment with MEB (100 and 200 mg/kg IP) did not prevent the thermal nociception in the tail flick test. The IP administration of MEB (100 and 300 mg/kg) significantly reduced the paw oedema induced by carrageenan. Moreover, systemic treatment with MEB (11-300 mg/kg) reduced the neutrophil migration in the carrageenan-induced migration to the peritoneal cavity. In the rota rod test, MEB-treated mice did not show any significant motor performance alterations with the dose of 300 mg/kg. In addition, over the study duration of 14 days, there were no deaths or toxic signs recorded in the mice given 100 or 1000 mg/kg of MEB.
The results described here are the first report of pharmacological studies of Blechnum occidentale L. and indicate that this plant has antinociceptive and antiinflammatory activities which support its folk medicine use.
西方乌毛蕨是一种生长于从美国到南美洲地区的陆生蕨类植物，在巴西民间医学中有所应用。在本研究中，我们在疼痛和炎症动物模型中研究了西方乌毛蕨甲醇提取物（MEB）的抗伤害感受和抗炎活性，以支持其在治疗炎症性疾病、肺部疾病、泌尿系统感染和肝脏疾病方面的药用价值。
使用扭体试验、福尔马林试验和甩尾试验评估MEB的抗伤害感受活性。在角叉菜胶诱导的爪肿胀和中性粒细胞迁移试验中评估MEB的抗炎活性。为排除MEB可能的非特异性肌肉松弛或镇静作用，在转棒试验中评估小鼠的运动表现，并在14天内评估其毒性。
腹腔注射MEB（0.01 - 100mg/kg）对乙酸诱导的小鼠扭体产生剂量相关的抗伤害感受作用。口服不同剂量范围（100 - 400mg/kg）的MEB，对扭体试验也产生显著的抗伤害感受作用。此外，用MEB（100和200mg/kg腹腔注射）治疗可显著抑制大鼠福尔马林诱导的痛觉过敏的早期和晚期阶段。相比之下，用MEB（100和200mg/kg腹腔注射）治疗在甩尾试验中并未阻止热痛觉。腹腔注射MEB（100和300mg/kg）可显著减轻角叉菜胶诱导的爪肿胀。此外，全身给予MEB（11 - 300mg/kg）可减少角叉菜胶诱导的中性粒细胞向腹腔的迁移。在转棒试验中，给予300mg/kg剂量的MEB处理的小鼠未表现出任何显著的运动表现改变。此外，在为期14天的研究期间，给予100或1000mg/kg MEB的小鼠未记录到死亡或毒性迹象。
此处描述的结果是西方乌毛蕨药理学研究的首次报告，表明该植物具有抗伤害感受和抗炎活性，支持其在民间医学中的应用。
