Investigation of Acute Toxicity, Anti-Inflammatory, and Analgesic Effect of Urtica Dioica L

Abstract

In our study, we aimed to investigate the acute toxicity and analgesic effect of Urtica dioica L fixed oil (UD) in mice, and its anti-inflammatory effect in rats. The acute toxicity of UD was tested for the increasing doses between 0.2 and 12.8 mL/kg. The anti-inflammatory effect was studied in carrageenan induced tissue inflammation model and the effect of two different doses of UD was compared with that of isotonic saline, ethyl alcohol, and indomethacin. The analgesic effect was evaluated by tail-flick response and the effect of UD was compared with that of morphine hydrochloride and isotonic saline. It was found that the reduction in inflammation was 95.70% with indomethacin (3 mg/kg i.p.), 47.40 % with 0.05 mL/kg UD i.p. and 56.97% with 0.15 mL/kg UD i.p. Both UD doses showed statistically significant anti-inflammatory effect compared to the control groups but weaker than indomethacin. UD showed no significant analgesic effect compared to the control group. Fixed oil of UD was non-toxic. Our preliminary data show that UD fixed oil extract has a mild anti-inflammatory effect but it is not analgesic or toxic in the dose range examined.