23 In Vivo Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Effects of Malva parviflora Leaf Extracts H. Bouriche, H. Meziti and A. Senator Laboratory of Applied Biochemistry Department of Biology Faculty of Sciences, University of Ferhat Abbas 19000 Setif Algeria Keywords: Malvaceae, inflammation, oedema, vascular permeability, exudation Abstract The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of Malva parviflora leaf extracts were evaluated in this study. Results showed that the oral administration of 500 mg/kg of methanolic extract or 360 mg/kg of aqueous extract inhibited significantly the xylene induced ear oedema in mice. In the same way, the oral administration of methanolic extract and aqueous extract at 500 and 360 mg/kg, exerted 36% and 40% of inhibition respectively of acetic acid induced vascular permeability in mice. These effects were statistically similar to the effect of indomethacin which is a standard anti-inflammatory drug. The antioxidant effect of Malva parviflora leaf extracts was also assessed using total antioxidant capacity test in mice. The daily administration of methanolic extract and aqueous extract during three weeks showed significant and dose dependent improvement of the blood total antioxidant capacity. Taken together, we conclude that Malva parviflora leaf extracts possess anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities which support its traditional uses in the treatment of inflammatory disorders. INTRODUCTION Medicinal plants are considered to be an important source of therapeutic compounds and the therapeutic benefit of many medicinal plants is often attributed to their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties (Shale et al., 2005; Rice-Evans, 2004; Zang et al., 2009; Lu et al., 2006). Malva parviflora L. belongs to the family Malvaceae and is widely distributed in North and South Africa. It has several uses in traditional medicine practice. Traditional healers and herbalists use dried powder or an infusion made from leaves and roots of Malva parviflora to clean wounds and sores. A hot poultice made from leaves is also used to treat wounds and swelling, and incorporated into a lotion to treat bruised and broken limbs (Shale et al., 1999). Moreover, roots of this plant are used to treat asthma (Hailu et al., 2005). The methanolic extract of Malva parviflora had high COX-1 inhibiting activity as well as antibacterial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria (Shale et al., 1999). The plant possesses flavonoid, phenolics and proanthocyanidins and a positive linear correlation was established between these polyphenols and free radical scavenging activities (Afolayan et al., 2008). The present study was designed to investigate and evaluate the pharmacological basis for the use of Malva parviflora leaf extract in folk medicine for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. Thus, the anti-inflammatory activity of methanolic and aqueous extracts of Malva parviflora leaves were evaluated on xylene-induce ear oedema and acetic acid-induced vascular permeability. The antioxidant capacity of Malva parviflora extracts was also assessed. MATERIAL AND METHODS Chemicals Indomethacin and 2,2'-azo-bis (2-amidinopropane) HCl (AAPH) were purchased from Sigma (Germany). Acetic acid, methanol and xylene were obtained from Prolabo Proc. XIII th IC on MAP Eds.: M.S.A. Safwat et al. Acta Hort. 854, ISHS 2010