ISSN: 2186-8476, ISSN: 2186-8468 Print Vol. 2 No. 2, June 2013 株 ナ＆ナインターナショナ ナ＆ナインターナショナ ナ＆ナインターナショナ ナ＆ナインターナショナ 小山市、日本 小山市、日本 小山市、日本 小山市、日本 www. leena-luna.co.jp P a g e | 75 ANTI-EMETIC AND ANTI-INFLAMMAOTRY ACTIVITY OF FRUIT PEEL OF LUFFA CYLINDRICA (L.) ROEM W. Kanwal 1 , A. Waseemuddin Syed 2 , A. Salman 3 , H Muhammad Mohtasheem 4 * Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Karachi, PAKISTAN. 1 kwasim202@gmail.com, 2 dr.syed_waseemuddin@yahoo.com, 3 salmancr2004@gmail.com, 4 phm.hasan@gmail.com ABSTRACT Ethanol extract of Luffa cylindrica (L.) Roem. Fruit peel was evaluated for anti- emetic and anti-inflammatory effect using chick emesis model and carrageenan induced rat paw edema. The antiemetic effect was observed at a dose of 150 mg /kg body weight whereas anti-inflammatory effect was observed at doses of 500, 750 and 1000 mg /kg body weight orally. Chlorpromazine 150mg/kg and indomethacin 10mg/kg orally were used as standard anti-emetic and anti-inflammatory drugs. The anti-emetic effect was determined by calculating the mean decrease in number of retching in contrast with those of control after 10 minutes of copper sulfate (50mg/kg orally) administration. The degree of paw edema of all the groups was measured using a plethysmometer at 5 th hour of carrageenan (1% w/v) administration. The extract exhibited statistically significant anti-emetic (P< 0.001) and anti- inflammatory (P< 0.05) effects. Keywords: Luffa cylindrica, antiemetic activity, anti-inflammatory activity, fruit peel, chick emesis model, carrageenan induced rat paw edema INTRODUCTION Luffa cylindrica (L.) Roem., (family Cucurbitaceae) is an annual climbing or trailing herb which is cultivated in Pakistan at Jehlum, Jammu and Kashmir, Loralai and Karachi (Nazimuddin & Naqvi, 1984). It has long been used as medicinal herb to treat asthma, intestinal worms, sinusitis (Chakravarty 1990; Schultes 1990), edema, pharyngitis and rhinitis (Khare 2007). Leaves are used in amenorrhea, decayed teeth, parasitic affections, skin diseases (Porterfield 1955), chronic bronchitis (Khare 2007) pain, inflammation, carbuncles, abscesses, (Perry 1980). Stem is used in respiratory complaints (Porterfield 1955) fruits in hemorrhage from bowels or bladder, hernia, hemorrhoids, jaundice, menorrhagia, scarlet fever (Porterfield 1955), bronchitis, haematuria, leprosy, spleenopathy and syphilis (Prajapati et al., 2003). Flowers are effective in migraine (Khare 2007). Phytochemically, leaves contain flavonoids (Schilling & Heiser, 1981), saponins (Liang et al., 1993 & 1996) and triterpenes (Nauking Institute of Materia Medica 1980) where as in fruits ascorbic acid, anthocyanins, flavonoids (Bor et al., 2006), triterpenoid saponins (Partap et al., 2012) are present. The flowers are rich in flavonoids (Schilling & Heiser, 1981), carotenoids, flavonoids and oleanolic acid were found in the peel (Kao et al., 2012) where as polypeptides are reported in Seeds (Abirami et al., 2011). Pharmacologically, anti-tussive, anti-asthmatic, cardiac stimulant, hepatoprotective, hypolipidemic properties (Partap et al., 2012) analgesic (Velmurugan et al., 2011), anti- inflammatory (Muthumani et al., 2010; Abirami et al., 2011; Khan et al., 2013) and anti- emetic activities (Khan et al., 2013) are reported.