Study of Antinociceptive Activity of Kaempferia galanga from Bangladesh in Swiss albino Mice

Kaempferia galanga (K. galanga) (Family: Zingiberaceae) has been used in the folk medicine for the treatment of inflammation, chest pain, cholera, headache, toothache, hypertension, and abdominal pain. Previous investigations on this plant suggested that the methanol extract of rhizome showed the analgesic activity. Therefore, the present study investigated the antinociceptive activity of different extracts of rhizome and leaves of K. galanga. The antinociceptive activity was evaluated by using acetic acid-induced writhing, hot plate and tail immersion tests in Swiss albino mice at the doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight p.o. The acetone extract of rhizome (ACR), as well as petroether fraction (PEF), chloroform fraction (CHF), methanol fraction (MEF) and acetone extract of leaves (ACL) were examined for antinociceptive activity. In this study, all the extracts displayed significant (p<0.05 and p<0.001) antinociceptive action in a dose dependent manner. In acetic acid induced writhing method, chloroform and methanol extract of rhizome (200 mg/kg) showed 81.22% and 70.12% writhing inhibition, respectively whereas the standard drug Diclofenac-sodium (25 mg/kg) and Aspirin (100 mg/kg) exhibited 80.72% and 61.94% inhibition. In hot plate and tail immersion tests, the petroether extract of rhizome and acetone extract of leaves (200 mg/kg) produced maximum 69.41% and 81.69% nociception inhibition of thermal stimulus respectively. In this study Morphine (5 mg/kg) was used as standard. The present study revealed that the acetone extracts and fractions of rhizome and leaves of K. galanga possess an antinociceptive property which supports its use in traditional medicine and suggesting that the plant may be further investigated to discover its pharmacologically active natural products.