ABSTRACT

Piper guineense had been widely used for its reported biological activities in indigenous system of medicine. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and diuretic activity of ethanol leaf extract of Piper guineense on adult Wistar rats. Nine groups of two rats each was used for the study. Ethanol leaf extract of the plant was administered intraperitoneal to the rats at doses of 15.5, 31.25, 62.5, 125, 500 and, 1000mg/kg body weight respectively. Frusemide (40mg/kg) was used as positive control. The diuretic effect was evaluated by measuring the urine volume and urinary electrolyte excretion. The extract produced a significant increase in urine volume at 1000 and 500mg/kg (3.50 ± 0.14 and 2.95 ± 0.07) respectively and enhanced urinary excretion of sodium, chloride and potassium significantly (P<0.05) but had no significant effect on bicarbonate (p>0.05).The anti-inflammatory effect was evaluated on egg albumin induced paw oedema in albino rats. A negative control containing normal saline and a positive control containing 100mg of Aspirin was used. The negative control showed a high inflammation within the time intervals while the positive control showed a low inflammation. The extract of the leaves exhibited anti-inflammatory property at different time levels that was dose dependent. The average inflammation decreased as time intervals increased (5.75 ± 0.35 to 3.35 ± 0.35). The percentage inflammation decreased as time interval increased (83.3 ± 0.35 to 60.1 ± 0.14), however highest inhibition was seen in the extract of highest concentration (16.6 ± 0.35) for 500mg. A significant difference (P<0.05) exists among the dose levels. These results show that ethanol leaf extract of Piper guineense has potential and significant anti-inflammatory and diuretic properties. >