Available online at www.scholarsresearchlibrary.com Scholars Research Library Der Pharmacia Lettre, 2010, 2(6): 76-83 (http://scholarsresearchlibrary.com/archive.html) ISSN 0975-5071 USA CODEN: DPLEB4 76 Scholar Research Library Anti-inflammatory effect of crude methanolic extract and fractions of African mistletoe Tapinanthus bangwensis (Engl. & K. Krause) on wistar albino rats Kingsley.C. Patrick-Iwuanyanwu*, Eugene.N. Onyeike and Mathew.O. Wegwu Department of Biochemistry (Toxicology Unit), University of Port Harcourt, P.M.B 5323, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria __________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT The anti-inflammatory activity of crude methanolic (MeOH) extract and its partitioned fractions [ethylacetate (EtOAc) and butanol (BuOH)] of leaves of Tapinanthus bangwensis on wistar albino rats was investigated. The methanolic extract and fractions (EtOAc and BuOH) at doses of 10 and 100mg/kg body weight exhibited varying degrees of anti-inflammatory activities with BuOH and EtOAc fractions (100mg/kg) showing high and significant (p≤0.05) inhibition (67.32 and 38.56%) respectively at the 3 rd h. The EtOAc and BuOH fractions (100mg/kg) reduced significantly (p≤0.05) paw oedema volume (0.94±0.02 and 0.5±0.01ml) when compared to control (0.9% saline) (1.62±0.07 ml) at the 3 rd h. The administration of 10mg/kg dose of MeOH extract and its fractions ((EtOAc and BuOH) caused a mild inhibition at the 3 rd h (4.56±0.26, 16.99±0.83 and 29.41±0.22%) respectively while mean percent inhibition was recorded as 3.47±0.18, 13.35±0.33, and 25.55±0.47% respectively after four hours of carrageenan injection. However, the BuOH fraction (100mg/kg) gave the highest percent inhibition (67.32±0.17%) which was significant (p≤0.05) at the 3 rd h. The anti-inflammatory actions of the extract (MeOH) and partitioned fractions (EtOAc and BuOH) of T. bangwensis may be due to an inhibitory effect on mediators of inflammation. However, the results obtained indicate that the methanolic extract (MeOH) and partitioned fractions (EtOAc and BuOH) possess anti-inflammatory effect and this may justify the use of this plant in the management of inflammatory disease conditions. Key words: anti-inflammatory, carrageenan, fractions, paw oedema, Tapinanthus bangwensis. ______________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Medicinal plants are believed to be an important source of new chemical substances with potential therapeutic effects [1, 2]. The research into plants with alleged folkloric use as pain relievers and anti-inflammatory agents, should therefore be viewed as a fruitful and logical