Evaluation of the antinflammatory and analgesic activity of Sideritis canariensis var. pannosa in mice Margarita Herna ´ndez-Pe ´rez a,1 , Rosa M. Rabanal b, * a Departamento de Enfermerı ´a, E.U. de Enfermerı ´a y Fisioterapia, Universidad de La Laguna, C/Campus de Ofra, s/n, 38071, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain b Departamento de Medicina Fı ´sica y Farmacologia, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de La Laguna, C/Astrofisico Francisco Sanchez, s/n, 38071, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain Accepted 30 January 2002 Abstract A previous chemical study of Sideritis canariensis var. pannosa demonstrated the presence of some important classes of related organic compounds with anti-inflammatory activities. In the present study, the crude ethanol extract and the chloroformic and aqueous fractions of S. canariensis have been examined for their antimicrobial actions through the disk-diffusion method and for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects in several animal models. No relevant antimicrobial activity against the tested microorganisms was found. The chloroformic fraction was the most interesting, exhibiting a good analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Sideritis canariensis (Lamiaceae); Anti-inflammatory; Analgesic; Antimicrobial activity 1. Introduction Different species of Sideritis genus (Lamiaceae) wide- spread throughout the Canary Islands, are employed in folk medicine as cytostatic, antimicrobial, vulnerary, astringent, flu vaccine and stimulant circulatory agents (Darias et al., 1990; Pe ´rez de Paz and Herna ´ndez Padro ´n, 1999). S. canariensis L. var. pannosa Christ. is an endemic species of the Canary Islands. Previous chemical studies with this plant have demonstrated the presence of some important classes of organic compound including terpe- noids and sterols (Fraga et al., 1991). In spite of an extensive search, it has not been possible to find any literature concerning the related pharmaco- logical action of S. canariensis . Several antiinflamma- tory substances have been identified in plants from this genus, mainly flavonoids and terpenoids (Villar et al., 1982, 1984, 1985; Barberan et al., 1987; Alcaraz et al., 1989; de las Heras et al., 1994a,b; Pang et al., 1996; Navarro et al., 1997; Villena et al., 2000). Considering the chemicals of S. canariensis var. pannosa , in the present work we report the ‘in vivo’ antiinflammatory and analgesic activities of this plant. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Plant material The plant material used in this study was collected in May 1994 in the North of Tenerife (Teno Alto, Canary Islands). A voucher specimen Nr ORT29.291 has been deposited in the Herbarium of the ‘Centro de Investiga- cio ´n y Tecnologı ´a Agraria’, Tenerife (Spain). 2.2. Preparation of extracts The aerial part was air-dried, powdered and extracted in a Soxhlet extractor with ethanol. The solvent was evaporated yielding a residue of 15.29% w/w in terms of dried starting material. Afterward a CHCl 3 /H 2 O dis- * Corresponding author. Tel.:  /34-22-318495; fax:  /34-22-318514. E-mail addresses: maherpe@ull.es (M. Herna ´ndez-Pe ´rez), rrabanal@ull.es (R.M. Rabanal). 1 Tel.:  /34-22-319288; fax:  /34-22-319427. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 81 (2002) 43  /47 www.elsevier.com/locate/jethpharm 0378-8741/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0378-8741(02)00033-8