ABSTRACT
Medicinal plants represent potential sources for the discovery of new anti-inflammatory agents. Aqueous and ethanolic whole plant extracts of Phyllanthus fraternus were evaluated in vivo for their anti-inflammatory activities on carrageenan-induced paw oedema in Sprague-Dawley rats. The extracts were also screened for phytochemicals. Some of the phytochemicals found in the extracts have previously been implicated as antiinflammatory agents. The LD50 of both extracts was investigated and found to be greater than 5000mg/kg. The extracts at doses 100mg/kg and 200mg/kg showed modest anti-inflammatory activity in a dose dependent manner. The aqueous extract demonstrated better inhibition of paw oedema compared with the ethanolic extract at 200mg/kg after 4hrs. The activity of the standard drug, indomethacin at 25.0 mg/kg was significantly higher (p< 0.05) than those of the extracts. The results suggest that whole plant extract of P. fraternus possess antiinflammatory activity and will be useful in the search for novel anti-inflammatory agents.