Fitoterapia 74 (2003) 345–349

Anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic

properties of Clitoria ternatea root
B. Parimala Devi, R. Boominathan, Subhash C. Mandal*
Division of Pharmacognosy and Department of Pharmaceutical Technology,
Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Jadavpur University, Calcutta 700 032, India

Received 7 February 2002; accepted in revised form 20 February 2003

Abstract

Clitoria ternatea roots methanol extract when given by oral route to rats was found to
inhibit both the rat paw oedema caused by carrageenin and vascular permeability induced by
acetic acid in rats. Moreover, the extract exhibited a significant inhibition in yeast-induced
pyrexia in rats. In the acetic acid-induced writhing response, the extract markedly reduced
the number of writhings at doses of 200 and 400 mgykg (p.o.) in mice.
䊚 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Clitoria ternatea; Anti-inflammatory; Antipyretic; Analgesic

1. Introduction

Clitoria ternatea L. (Fabaceae) is a perennial twining herb, found in Indo-China,

Philippines and Madagascar. This plant is known as Aparajit (Hindi), Aparajita
(Bengali), Kakkattan (Tamil) in Indian traditional medicine. The roots have a sharp
bitter taste and cooling, laxative, diuretic, anthelmintic, anti-inflammatory properties;
they are useful in severe bronchitis, asthma and hectic fever w1x. The roots are used
by tribals to cause abortion while their paste is applied for curing abdominal
swellings, sore throat, mucous disorders and fever w2,3x. The root juice is given in
cold milk to remove phlegm in chronic bronchitis. The plant has been evaluated for
various pharmacological activities.
*Corresponding author. Fax: q91-334720964.
E-mail address: subhashmandal@yahoo.com (S.C. Mandal).

0367-326X/03/$ - see front matter 䊚 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0367-326X(03)00057-1
346 B.P. Devi et al. / Fitoterapia 74 (2003) 345–349

2. Experimental

2.1. Plant material

C. ternatea roots were collected in Jhilimili, Bankura, West Bengal, India. The
plant was identified by the Botanical Survey of India, Shibpur, Howrah, West
Bengal and a voucher specimen has been deposited at the Division of Pharmacognosy
and Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University of Calcutta.

2.2. Extraction

The powdered roots were soxhlet-extracted with MeOH. The extract, on removal
of solvent in vacuum, gave a reddish brown semisolid residue (yield: 9.8% wyw).
On preliminary screening, the extract showed positive results for flavonoids,
tannins, steroids and saponins.

2.3. Animals

Wistar rats of either sex weighing 180–200 g and male Swiss mice weighing
22–25 g were maintained under standard nutritional and environmental conditions
throughout the experiment. The animals were deprived of food for 24 h before
experimentation but allowed free access to tap water throughout.

2.4. Anti-inflammatory activity

2.4.1. Carrageenin-induced rat paw oedema

The rats were divided into four groups, each group consisting of six animals.
Oedema was induced by subplantar injection of 0.1 ml of 1% freshly prepared
suspension of carrageenin into the right hind paw of each rat. The paw volume was
measured before (0 h) and at 1 h after the injection of carrageenin using a
plethysmometer w4x. The methanol extract of C. ternatea root in 2% Tween 80
solution (200 and 400 mgykg), was administered orally to two groups of rats, 30
min before the injection of carrageenin w5,6x. The third and fourth groups of rats
received 2% aqueous Tween 80 solution 10 mlykg orally (control) or diclofenac
sodium 20 mgykg as a reference drug.

2.4.2. Acetic acid-induced vascular permeability in rats

The method of Whittle was used. One hour after oral administration of the
methanol extract of root of C. ternatea (200 and 400 mgykg), diclofenac sodium
(20 mgykg) and control (2% aqueous Tween 80 solution, 10 mlykg), rats were
injected with 0.6% solution acetic acid intraperitoneally. Immediately after treatment,
10 mlykg of 10% (wyv) Evan’s blue was injected intravenously. Thirty minutes
after Evan’s blue injection, the rats were killed and the dye leakage into the
peritoneal cavity was measured spectrophotometrically at 610 nm w7x.
 B.P. Devi et al. / Fitoterapia 74 (2003) 345–349 347

2.5. Antipyretic activity

Rats were divided into five groups of six rats each. A thermister probe was
inserted 3–4 cm deep into the rectum and fastened to the tail by adhesive tape. The
temperature was measured on a thermometer. The normal body temperature of each
rat was measured at predetermined intervals and recorded. Fever was induced as the
method described by Smith and Hambourger. The rats were trained to remain quiet
in a restraint cage. After measuring the basal rectal temperature, animals were given
a subcutaneous injection of 10 mlykg of 15% wyv yeast suspended in 0.5% wyv
methylcellulose solution. Rats were then returned to their housing cages. After 19
h of yeast injection, the animals were treated with the test compound, and their
rectal temperatures recorded as described previously w8,9x.

2.6. Analgesic activity

Animals were divided into five groups containing six animals each. The first
group was given Tween 80, the second and third group was given 200 and 400 mgy
kg of the extract, repectively, and the fourth group was given aspirin 150 mgykg.
Immediately after administering acetic acid, the number of writhing were counted
upto 15 min. A reduction in the writhing number as compared to the control group
was considered as evidence for the presence of analgesia w10x.

2.7. Statistical analysis

The results were expressed as mean"S.E.M. The significance was evaluated by

Student’s t-test compared with control. P-0.05 was considered significant w11x.

3. Results and discussion

The extract of root of C. ternatea exhibited a significant inhibition of the oedema

induced by carrageenan by 21.6% and 31.8%, respectively, at 200 and 400 mgykg
(Table 1). The dose of 400 mgykg exhibits an inhibition comparable to that of 20
mgykg of diclofenac. Furthermore, the extract reduced the intensity of peritoneal

Table 1
Effect of methanol extract of C. ternatea roots (MECTR) on carrageenin-induced paw oedema in rats

Treatment Dose Time after phlogistic agent administration (h)

(mgykg)
0 1 2 3 4
Control – 0.58"0.04 0.91"0.03 0.98"0.04 0.91"0.02 0.88"0.03
MECTR 200 0.58"0.03 0.88"0.05 0.95"0.04 0.87"0.02* 0.69"0.01*
400 0.57"0.04 0.87"0.03 0.71"0.02* 0.67"0.01* 0.60"0.02*
Diclofenac 20 0.58"0.02 0.76"0.02* 0.64"0.01* 0.61"0.03* 0.59"0.04*
Each value represents the mean"S.E.M. (ns6).
*
P-0.001 significantly different compared with control, Student’s t-test (2% Tween 80 solution).
348 B.P. Devi et al. / Fitoterapia 74 (2003) 345–349

Table 2
Effect of methanol extract of C. ternatea roots (MECTR) on acetic acid-induced vascular permeability
in rats

Treatment Dose (mgykg) Dye leakage (mg) Inhibition (%)

Control 10 mlykg 72.63"3.4 –
(Tween 80)
MECTR 200 46.52"2.7* 35.94
400 32.60"3.5* 55.11
Diclofenac 20 28.65"2.8* 60.55
Each value represents the mean"S.E.M. (ns6).
*
P-0.001 significantly different compared with control, Student’s t-test, (2% Tween 80 solution).

Table 3
Effect of methanol extract of C. ternatea roots (MECTR) on yeast-induced pyrexia in rats

Treatment Rectal temperature (8C) after yeast injection

0h 19 h 20 h 21 h 22 h 23 h
Control 37.7"0.02 39.8"0.02 39.3"0.07 39.1"0.06 39.4"0.05 39.4"0.04
Paracetamol 37.9"0.01 39.8"0.04 38.6"0.02a 38.2"0.03a 37.8"0.04a 37.2"0.03a
(150 mg kgy1)
MECTR 37.7"0.03 39.5"0.02 39.1"0.02b 38.8"0.01a 38.2"0.04a 37.9"0.05a
(200 mg kgy1)
MECTR 37.6"0.04 39.9"0.02 38.4"0.02a 37.7"0.03a 37.5"0.01a 37.4"0.04a
(400 mg kgy1)
Each value represents mean"S.E.M. ns6.
Control (2% aqueous tragacanth solution).
a
P-0.001, bP-0.01, significantly compared to the control values of corresponding hours.

Table 4
Effect of methanol extract of C. ternatea roots (MECTR) on acetic acid-induced writhing in mice

Group Dose Number of % Inhibition

writhings
Control 2% Tween 80 36.5"2.6 –
MECTR 200 mgykg 18.2"1.7* 50.13
400 mgykg 13.2"2.3* 63.83
Aspirin 150 mgykg 10.6"2.0* 70.95
Each value represents the mean"S.E.M.
*
P-0.001 compared to control. (ns6); Student’s t-test.

inflammation by 35.9 and 55.1% as observed in the reduction of Evan blue dye
leakage induced by acetic acid in rats compared with that of diclofenac as the
standard drug (Table 2).
The extract showed a significant antipyretic activity by causing a reduction in
yeast-induced fever (Table 3). The extract markedly reduced the number of writhings
 B.P. Devi et al. / Fitoterapia 74 (2003) 345–349 349

at both tested doses by 50.1 and 63.8% compared to the reduction of 70.9% induced
by 150 mgykg of aspirin (Table 4).
From the overall results, we can conclude that the methanol extract of C. ternatea
possesses significant anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic activities. These
activities are probably due to the presence of flavonoids in the plant.

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to All India Council for Technical Education. New Delhi
for financial assistance to Dr S.C. Mandal.

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