Membrane Stabilization and Inhibition of Protein Denaturation as Mechanisms of the Anti-Inflammatory Activity of some Plant Species

Several reports have shown the potential of medicinal plants as vital sources of anti-inflammatory agents and this study is aimed at investigating the anti-inflammatory potential of selected medicinal plants used for the treatment of inflammation in folk medicine. The methanol and acetone extract of Lecaniodiscus cupanioides, Talinum fruticosum, Ocimum gratissimum, Senna occidentalis and Senna alata were subjected to anti-inflammatory assays using membrane stability and inhibition of albumin denaturation methods and absorbance measured at 560 and 660 nm respectively. The mean IC50 and SEM values were determined using normalized response variable through non-linear regression XY analysis on prism graphpad® (7.0). In the membrane stability experiment, the extracts tested showed varying levels of erythrocyte lysis inhibition within the range of (IC50: 89.08±6.339 μg/mL≤IC50≤278.3±5.678 μg/mL) while the standard drug (ibuprofen) has an IC50: 61.93±8.359 μg/mL, Lecaniodiscus cupanioides acetone (IC50 of 89.08±6.339 μg/mL) extract showed to be most active when compared to other extracts. In the inhibition of albumin denaturation experiment, the tested extracts showed different level of activity within the range of (IC50:22.89±5.52 μg/mL≤IC50≤210.6±6.71 μg/mL). The acetone extracts of Senna occidentalis (22.89±5.52 μg/mL) and Lecaniodiscus cupanioides (80.9±9.11 μg/mL) showed significant activity with the lowest IC50 compared to other extracts while the standard drug (aspirin) had an IC50 of (4.055±2.72 μg/mL). The findings of this study shows that Lecaniodiscus cupanioides acetone extract has the most significant anti-inflammatory properties, therefore justifying the traditional use of the plant in the treatment of inflammatory injury and tissue damage.