Coffea arabica extracts and their chemical constituents in a murine model of gouty arthritis: How they modulate pain and inflammation.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Coffea arabica is commonly known for its cardiotonic and neurotonic activities, but in some places' folk medicine, like in Arabia and Africa, C. arabica is used to treat headache, migraine, the flu, anemia, oedema, asthenia, asthma, inflammation and wounds.

AIMS OF THE STUDY

The aims were to evaluate if the aqueous extracts of Coffea arabica, prepared from beans with different degrees of roasting, and their main chemical constituents could exert an in vivo anti-gouty effect.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Coffea extracts were obtained from the beans of not roasted, light, medium and dark roasted coffee and from decaffeinated and traditional coffees and were prepared with water at 25°C and at 98°C. C57BL/6 mice were induced to gout by an injection of monosodium urate crystals and treated with coffee extracts at doses of 25, 75 and 225 mg/kg and their chemical constituents at a dose of 10 mg/kg. The antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects were evaluated.

RESULTS

Treatments with Coffea extracts prepared with water at 98°C were more effective to exert antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities than the ones prepared with water at 25°C. Caffeic and chlorogenic acids reduced hypernociception in animals when compared with negative control group (7.79 and 5.69 vs 18.53; P < 0.05 and P < 0.001, respectively), inhibited neutrophil migration (1.59 × 104 and 0.38 × 104 vs 9.47 × 104; P < 0.0001 both) and decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines concentration (IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α).

CONCLUSIONS

We have demonstrated that our treatments attenuated gout, and this effect could be attributed to a reducement in hypernociception, neutrophil migration and cytokines concentration. These results suggest coffee as a potential candidate for studies in acute gout therapy.