Evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity of Alcoholic extract of leaves of Leucas Aspera in albino rats

Objective: Alcoholic extract of leaves of Leucas Aspera was tested for anti-inflammatory activity in animal models. Methods: Three doses, 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg of the plant extract prepared as a suspension in 1% tween 80 in normal saline.The control group received only Tween 80 (2%, v/v) orally. Acute and sub-acute inflammatory activities were studied in rats by carrageenan induced paw edema and cotton pellet induced granuloma models respectively. In both models, the standard drug used was diclofenac 150 mg/kg. Results: All the three test doses (100mg/kg, 200mg/kg,400mg/kg) at different time intervals(0-4 hours) did exhibit anti-inflammatory activity in both models ie.Carrageenan model and cotton pellet granuloma model in comparison to control. The test dose of 400mg/kg of leucas aspera produced a percentage inhibition of 60.64%which was comparable to standard drug Diclofenac which produced a percentage inhibition of 60.70% in carrageenan model, whilst the percentage inhibition by cotton pellet method for standard drug was 60.27% and for three different doses of test (100,200,400mg/kg) was 50.85%,57.63%, and 58.42% respectively. Conclusion: Leucas Aspera possesses significant anti-inflammatory activity with p value (0.0001).