ABSTRACT

The use of plants in the treatment of diseases has been used over a long time. The medicinal properties of plants is as a result of the chemical contents of it. The present study is aimed at determining the anti-inflammatory and diuretic activities of the plant Dioscorea bulbifera In theanti-inflammatory study, sixteen animals were used and they were arranged in two per cage concentrations at 500mg/g, 250mg/g, 125mg/g, 62.5mg/kg and 31.25mg/kg, 15.5mg/kg were administered to sixteen albino rats. A negative control containing normal saline at 0.9mg/kg and a positive control containing aspirin at 100mg/kg were used. The negative control showed no inhibition. Hence a significant difference exits at p<O.05 between the extract concentration. Results show that the concentration at 500mg/kg of the ethanol extract had the highest anti-inflammatory effect at 20.4 ± 0.14. In the diuretic study, the negative control containing the normal saline and the positive control containing furosernide were used. The albino rats were administered the extracts at cone, at 1000mg/ml,500mg/ml, 250mg/ml,62.5mg/rnl and 31.25mg/mi. the albino rats administered the positive control had the highest volume of urine but were low in Na/IK at 25.79 ± 1.124. This result demonstrates that Dioscorea bulbifera has potential anti-inflammatory effects and little diuretic activities.