2008 Kyung Hee University Press 416 Oriental Pharmacy and Experimental Medicine 2008 8(4), 416-422 www.opem.org OPEM Evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity of Solanum trilobatum roots A Pandurangan 1 , RL Khosa 1, * and S Hemalatha 2 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Meerut Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut-250002, India; 2 Department of Pharmaceutics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, India Received for publication December 11, 2007; accepted June 24, 2008 SUMMARY This study evaluated the anti-inflammatory potential of the crude alkaloidal fraction (CAF) of methanol extract of Solanum trilobatum Linn. (Solanacea) root in animal models of inflammation. Crude alkaloidal fraction at doses of 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg significantly (p < 0.01) reduced carrageenan induced rat paw volume at 3 h after carrageenan challenge as compared to control group of animals. CAF (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg) significantly (p < 0.01) and dose dependently suppressed cotton pellet induced granuloma formation. Topical application of CAF (1, 5 and 10 mg/ear) markedly inhibited multiple application of TPA in mice. CAF elicited pronounced inhibitory effects on formaldehyde and adjuvant induced arthritis in rats. These results indicate that CAF of methanol extract of the Solanum trilobatum has anti-inflammatory activity in acute and chronic inflammation. Key words: Anti-inflammatory activity; carrageenan induced rat paw; cotton pellet induced granuloma; tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate; formaldehyde induced arthritis; adjuvant induced arthritis; crude alkaloidal fraction; Solanum trilobatum INTRODUCTION Solanum trilobatum Linn. (Solanacea) is a thorny shrub widely distributed in Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Southern India and Srilanka in moist places. This plant is well known in Ayurveda and Siddha system as ‘Alarka’ and ‘Tuduvelai’, respectively. The Siddha system of medicine uses a ghee prepared from this plant for treatment of tuberculosis. The decoction of entire plant is has been administered to cases of acute and chronic bronchitis (Nadkarni, 1976). Roots, berries and flowers are used for cough (Anonymous, 1972). Previous reports indicate that some chemical constituent, such as solasodine and β- solamarine have been isolated from whole plant (Purushothaman et al., 1987). Pharmacological investigations have demonstrated that S. trilobatum possess antioxidant activity (Sini and Devi, 2004), hepatoprotective activity (Shahjahan et al., 2004), anti-inflammatory activity (Emmanuel et al., 2006), anti cancer (Venugopal et al ., 2007) and antimicrobial activity (Swapnalatha and Kannabiran, 2007). In the preliminary study, the crude alkaloid fraction of methanol extract of S. trilobatum (MEST) root exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity on carrageenan induced rat paw oedema. Therefore, the present study has been planed to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity of crude alkaloids fraction of methanol extract of S. trilobatum root in different experimental models of acute and chronic *Correspondence: RL Khosa, Department of Pharma- ceutical Technology, Meerut Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut-250002, India. Tel: +911212439057; Fax: +911212439058; E-mail: khosarl@gmail.com. DOI 10.3742/OPEM.2008.8.4.416