Phytochemical characterization, Antioxidant and Analgesic potentials of Aerial Parts of Eruca vesicaria

Abstract

Our work is based on the phytochemical study, the antioxidant and the analgesic activities of a hydroalcoholic extract of Eruca vesicaria aerial part very used in traditional medicine. The phytochemical screening highlighted the presence of tannins, flavonoids, sterols, flavonoid glucosides, saponins, phenols and alkaloids. The determination of total phenols of hydromethanolic extract by the Folin-ciocalteu method revealed a content equal to 4.63 ± 0.017 mg GAE / g extract. The amount of flavonoids by AlCl3 method achieved a content equal to 2.14 ± 0.025 mg QE/ g extract. The antiradical activities were evaluated by two chemical tests ; DPPH and FRAP. The obtained results showed a high reducing activity. Besides, the acute toxicity and the analgesic activity of the plant extract was evaluated on rats, using a pain model induced by chemical stimuli, hot plate and tail immersion methods. The extract was used at various doses 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg, whereas acetylsalicylic acid was used as the standard drug (200 mg/kg). In the acetic acid-induced model, the plant extracts and the standard drug significantly (p<0.05) reduced the abdominal writhing in rats compared to the control group by increasing the percentage of writhing inhibition in a dose-dependent manner. In the hot plate and the tail immersion models, the plant extracts and the standard drug acetylsalicylic acid demonstrated a good analgesic activity and significantly (p<0.05) increasing the pain reaction time. These results indicate that the E. vesicaria plant has a significant analgesic potential that can act through peripheral and central mechanisms.