Analgesic effect of Hypericum perforatum, Valeriana officinalis and Piper methysticum for orofacial pain

To evaluate in vivo the association of hypericum Hypericum perforatum, valerian Valeriana officinalis and kava Piper methysticum with analgesia by assessing their effects in reducing orofacial pain as well as the possible hepatic, hematologic and biochemical alterations induced by regular administration of these extracts. METHODS: Orofacial pain was induced in mice with the administration of 2.5% formalin in the upper lip. After 60 min, the animals were treated with saline, carbamazepine and hydroalcoholic plant extracts. The nociceptive intensity was determined by the timing at which the animal remained rubbing the injected area. To assess the hepatotoxic effect, mice were chronically treated for 25 days with saline, carbamazepine and hydroalcoholic extract. The animals were euthanized and the liver weighed, followed by a differential count of leukocytes and measurement of alanine transaminase and alkaline phosphatase. RESULTS: The evaluation of analgesic activity in phase 1 reduced the time of rubbing compared to the control by 86% 0.05 mL/10 g and 76% 0.10 mL/10 g. In phase 2, the extracts reduced rubbing time by 94% and 85%, respectively. In the evaluation of alkaline phosphatase, the groups treated with extracts at doses of 0.05 mL/10 g and 0.1 mL/10 g increased by 16.1% and 9.5% compared to the control group and a reduction of 8.5% and 9.1% in the evaluation of alanine transaminase respectively. It was demonstrated that in the differential counts showed an increase in eosinophils in the treated group with 0.05 mL/10 g. CONCLUSIONS: The use of hydroalcoholic extract of the associated plants reduced the orofacial formalin-induced pain with better results than carbamazepine, at both the neural conductor level of pain phase 1 and in inflammatory or later pain phase 2 without presenting hepatotoxicity. The observed eosinophilia is suggestive of a phenomenon called hormesis...

Avaliação da mutagenicidade de Piper methysticum L. f. no sistema methG1 em Aspergillus nidulans / Mutagenic evaluation of Piper methysticum L. f. in Aspergillus nidulans methG1 system

O extrato seco da raiz de Piper methysticum L. f. Forster (PIPERACEAE), a kava-kava, é usado no tratamento de diversos problemas envolvendo ansiedade como um dos sintomas. Por não causar dependência, sedação e ter ação ansiolítica, muitas pessoas têm recorrido a kava-kava para auxiliá-las no emagrecimento. Isto pode levar ao consumo indiscriminado da planta e acarretar riscos, pois todo medicamento fitoterápico deve respeitar limites de doses. Um risco na utilização de plantas medicinais é a toxicidade e, dentro deste, a mutagenicidade. Como a mutagenicidade está relacionada com a carcinogenicidade torna-se importante testar este potencial na kava-kava. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o potencial mutagênico do extrato seco da raiz de P. methysticum no sistema methG1 em Aspergillus nidulans. A linhagem utilizada foi a biA1methG1, auxotrófica para biotina e metionina. Conídios dormentes de colônias crescidas por cinco dias foram tratados com soluções da kava-kava nas concentrações de 0,35 mg mL-1 e 3,5 mg mL-1, e depois de 24h, semeados em meio seletivo contendo metionina, para análise dos sobreviventes, e sem metionina, para a análise dos mutantes. Os números de sobreviventes e mutantes dos tratamentos foram comparados aos do controle. Os resultados indicaram que o extrato da raiz da kava-kava é mutagênica, pois a freqüência de mutação dos tratamentos foi maior que da mutação espontânea, porém não ocorrendo diferença significativa entre as doses.

The dry root extract of Piper methysticum L. f. Forster (Piperaceae), kava-kava, is used as to treat several health problems involving anxiety symptoms. As it causes no addiction, it can be applied as a sedative and anxiolytic. Many people have been relying on kava-kava as an auxiliary treatment. This can lead to an indiscriminate plant consumption and lead to risks, because all phytotherapic medications must observe dosage limits. One risk in the folk medicinal plant use is toxicity, and within it, mutagenicity. As mutagenicity is closely related to carcinogenicity, it is important to test the kava-kava mutagenicity potential. Thus, the purpose of this work was to test the mutagenicity of the dry root extract of P. methysticum in the methG1 system of Aspergillus nidulans. The bia1methG1 lineage, which is auxotrophic for biotine and methione, was used. Conidia from five-day-old colonies were collected and treated with kava-kava solutions at 0.35 mg mL-1 and 3.5 mg mL-1 concentrations and, after 24h, they were planted in selective growth medium with and without methione, in order to analyze the survivors and mutants, respectively. The number of survivors and mutants analyzed under effect of the treatments was compared with the control. The results indicated that the kava-kava dry root extract is mutagenic, since the mutation frequency of the treatments was higher than spontaneous mutation, however, there were no differences between the doses tested.

Eficacia e tolerabilidade do extrato de kava-kava WS 1490 em estados de ansiedade: estudo multicentrico brasileiro / Tolerability of kava-kava extract WS 1490 on anxiety disorders (multicentric brazilian study)

O objetivo deste estudo foi observar a eficacia e a tolerabilidade do extrato de kava-kava WS 1490(Laitan en pacientes com diagnostico de ansiedade,segundo a Escala de Hamilton modificada.Oitocentos e cinquenta pacientes foram inicialmente avaliados destes,766(90,1 por cento)fofam avaliados quanto a eficacia.Os pacientes(192 homens e 574 mulheres) apresentavam idade media de 42,8 mais ou menos13,1 anos e receberam 100mg do extrato de kava-kava WS tres vezes ao dia,por um periodo de quatro semanas.A media das somas dos escores iniciais,segundo a Escala de Ansiedade de Hamilton(HAMA),mostrou reducao de 30 no inicio para 9 ao final do tratamento(p menor 0,0001)A tolerabilidade foi considerada otima ou boa em 95,8 por cento dos casos.Este estudo mostrou que o uso isolado do extrato de kava-kava WS 1490 apresenta resultados positivos na abordagem dos estados ansiosos,reduzindo,de forma significativa,o humor ansioso,os quadros de tensao,insonias e sintomas de origem muscular(por exemplo,dor e fadiga)