Hindawi Publishing Corporation ISRN Pharmacology Volume 2013, Article ID 789613, 6 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/789613 Research Article Evaluation of Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Chloroform and Methanol Extracts of Centella asiatica Linn Sudipta Saha, 1,2 Tanmoy Guria, 2 Tanushree Singha, 2 and Tapan Kumar Maity 2 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Vidya Vihar, Rai Bareli Road, Lucknow 226025, India 2 Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India Correspondence should be addressed to Tapan Kumar Maity; jutkmaity@yahoo.com Received 1 July 2013; Accepted 26 September 2013 Academic Editors: R. Turmond and T. B. Vree Copyright © 2013 Sudipta Saha et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. A variety of active constituents with wide range of pharmacological actions have been reported with Centella asiatica. Te present study was undertaken to assess analgesic and anti-infammatory properties of its leaf extracts. Dried leaves were defatted with petroleum ether and extracted with chloroform and methanol. Both chloroform and methanol extracts were evaluated for analgesic activity through tail clip, tail fick, tail immersion, and writhing assay tests at doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg using Swiss albino mice. On the other hand, anti-infammatory assay was performed by carrageenan induced paw edema of methanol extract at 100 and 200mg doses in Wistar albino rat. Dextropropoxyphene and indomethacin were employed as a standard for analgesic and anti-infammatory studies, respectively. Our present study demonstrated that Centella asiatica bears signifcant analgesic and anti- infammatory activities in those models. 1. Introduction Human beings have relied on natural products as a resource of drugs for thousands of years. Plant-based drugs have formed the basis of traditional medicine systems that have been used for centuries in many countries such as Egypt, China, and India [1]. Today plant-based drugs continue to play an essential role in health care. It has been estimated by the World Health Organization that 80% of the population of the world rely mainly on traditional medicines for their primary health care [2]. Currently, at least 119 chemicals, derived from 90 plant species, can be considered as important drugs in one or more countries [3]. Nonsteroidal anti-infammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are the most commonly used drugs to treat pain and infammatory conditions [4]. But they have common side efects like ulcer, bleeding, and renal disorders [5]. Terefore, medicinal plants are the common source of therapeutically active chemical substances with lesser side efects [6]. Centella asiatica belongs to the family Apiaceae and is commonly found in parts of Asia and the Middle East. Centella has been used in traditional medicine in Asia for 100 years [7]. Te major bioactive constituents are triterpene saponins mainly asiaticoside, sapogenin, asiatic acid, made- cassoside, and madecassic acid [8]. It is believed to have benefcial efects in improving memory and treating mental fatigue, anxiety, and eczema [9]. In Ayurveda, Centella is efectively used in the treatment of infammation, anaemia, asthma, blood disorders, bronchitis, fever, urinary discharge, and splenomegaly [10]. Te aqueous extract of Centella possesses antioxidant, cognitive enhancing, and antiepileptic properties [11]. Based on the above fndings, analgesic and anti- infammatory activities were evaluated in this present study. Tese fndings justifed the traditional use of Centella asiatica in the treatment of infammatory conditions. 2. Methods 2.1. Plant Material and Preparation of the Extracts. Te leaves were collected from costal area of West Bengal in the rainy season, authenticated by Botanical Survey of India, Howrah, India, and a voucher specimen number 124 was deposited for future references. Te leaves were dried under shade for