Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of the Thai traditional remedy called “Leard-ngam” and its plant ingredients

Abstract

Introduction: Thai traditional medicine has used Leard-ngam remedy (LG) for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea including pain and inflammation. LG is a dysmenorrhea preparation on the Thai National List of Herbal Medicinal Products A.D. 2011. Objective of the present study was to investigate anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activities of LG remedy, and its herbal components.
Method: LG remedy was extracted similarly to that practiced by Thai traditional doctors (ethanol and water extraction). These extracts were tested for their inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay.
Result: Three ethanolic extracts of Piper nigrum Linn., Zingiber officinale Roscoe., Citrus hystrix DC. and 95% ethanolic extract of LG showed potent anti-inflammatory activity, with IC50 values of 1.31 ± 0.42, 2.87 ± 0.31, 3.03 ± 3.27 and 28.18 ± 4.63 μg/ml, respectively, where IC50 of the positive control, Indomethacin was 25.04 ± 3.79 μg/ml. The DPPH radical scavenging assay showed that ethanolic extracts of Syzygium
aromaticum Linn.Merr. Et Perry, Oroxylum indicum (Linn.) Kurz., Zingiber officinale Roscoe. exhibited strong antioxidant activity, with EC50 values of 9.20 ± 0.29, 9.94 ± 0.91 and 14.34 ± 0.28 μg/ml, respectively, whereas the standard butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) showed mean EC50 value of 15.84 ± 1.42 μg/ml.
Discussion and Conclusion: It is concluded that LG remedy and its herbal components show high inhibitory effect against NO production
with strong radical scavenging activity. These results support the use of LG and herb components in Thai traditional medicine.