Antipyretic activity of Polyalthia longifolia Benth. & Hook. F. var. pendula (Annonaceae), on lipopolysaccharide-induced fever in rats

Abstract

Fever is a complex physiological response triggered by infectious or aseptic stimuli. The present investigation was carried out to study the antipyretic activity of Polyalthia longifolia extracts in Wistar rats against Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -induced pyrexia. P. longifolia Benth. & Hook. f. var. Pendula (Annonaceae) is an evergreen tropical tree well known for its numerous medicinal properties. Methanol extracts of the leaves, stem bark and root of the plant were tested for their antipyretic activities at doses of 30, 100 and 300 mg kg^-1 body weight using LPS-induced antipyretic activity model. All extracts showed significant (p < 0.001) dose-dependent antipyretic activity. At 300 mg kg^-1, all extracts exhibited activities higher than that of Acetylsalicyclic acid (Aspirin) whose percentage inhibition of pyrexia was 86%. The root extract was the most active with a percentage inhibition of 127.5%, followed by the leaf extract (123.0%) and the stem bark extract (99.2%). This study proves P. longifolia as an effective antipyretic agent and could be used as an adjunct in the treat-ment of other ailments.

Keywords: Polyalthia longifolia, Lipopolysaccharide-induced fever, Antipyretic

Journal of Medical and Biomedical Sciences (2013) 2(1), 8-12