Anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and antioxidant effect of some medicinal plant extracts.

The anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and antioxidant effect of the methanol extract of Alhgi maurorum, Conyza dioscoridis and Convolvulus fatmensis was investigated. The antiinflammatory effect was studied using carageenan-induced rat paw edema, while the antipyretic effect was estimated using Brewer's yeast-induced hyperpyrexia in rats. The antioxidant activity was evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity method of different concentrations of the plant extracts using ascorbic acid as a standard antioxidant. The results revealed that oral administration of Alhgi maurorum and Convolvulus fatmensis at 1 g/ kg exhibited anti-inflammatory effect comparable to the standard diclofenac sodium (0.03 g/kg). The anti-inflammatory effect of Conyza dioscoridis appeared at lower doses 0.5g/kg. In all cases the maximum effect was obtained 2h after administration. None of the tested plant extracts showed antipyretic effect. The tested plant extracts showed variable degrees of antioxidant activity. Conyza dioscoridis showed the highest antioxidant effect (91.14%) and Alhgi maurorum has the least (28.78%) compared to the standard ascorbic acid (87.8%).