Elisabetsky E, Amador T A, Albuquerque R R, Nunes D S, Carvalho A do C
Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil.
J Ethnopharmacol. 1995 Oct;48(2):77-83. doi: 10.1016/0378-8741(95)01287-n.
An ethnopharmacological survey showed that home remedies prepared with flowers, fruits and roots of Psychotria colorata (Wild. ex R. & S.) Muell. Arg. (RUBIACEAE) are used by Amazonian caboclos as pain killers. These data led to the evaluation of analgesic activity of extracts of P. colorata, using the formalin, writhing and tail-flick methods. This paper reports the Naloxone reversible opioid-like analgesic activity of alkaloids present in leafs and flowers of P. colorata.