Abstract:
Many plants are known to be used in traditional medicine for the treatment of several
pathologies including diseases with an inflammatory component. The aim of this study is to
evaluate the in vivo anti-inflammatory activity of the hydro ethanolic extract of Cichorium
spinosum L. cultivated in Europe on the model of acute inflammation of the mouse paw
edema induced by Carrageenan 1%. A histological study was performed at the end of the
experiment to confirm the results of the increase and inhibition of the mouse paw volume.
Acute toxicity evaluated on mice showed that the hydroethanol extract of Cichorium
spinosum L. did not induce any toxic effect at the dose of 1000 mg/Kg body weight. NMRI
mice were selected and experiments were carried out in three groups treated with therapeutic
doses of (50, 150 and 250mg/kg) compared to the standard group which receives a synthetic
anti-inflammatory treatment (diclofenac 50mg/kg) and the positive control group
(carrageenan 1%)
The results obtained show that the extract produced a moderate anti-inflammatory activity, the
percentage of inhibition of the volume of edema with the extract tested at the dose of 250
mg/kg and Diclofenac (50mg/kg) at the 5th hour (70%), this percentage of inhibition is high
compared to Diclofenac which is about 56%. From these results it can be said that the antiinflammatory
effect of the hydroethanolic extract of Cichorium spinosum L. seems to be
effective than that of the standard (Diclofenac). However, the effect did not show statistically
significant activity due to the variation in the data of the standard group.
A histopathological study carried out on the skin tissue of the mice's paw confirms the antiinflammatory
effect of the hydro-ethanolic extract of Cichorium spinosum L. and this
following the almost total disappearance of edema and inflammatory infiltrate in the group of
mice treated with the dose of 250 mg/kg at the end of experimentation and which encourages
in the future its application in the therapeutic field for the treatment of different inflammatory
diseases.
