Pharmacological eeffect of the extract of moriga stenopetala

Moringa stenopetala is a multi purpose plant commonly used among people mainly as food and as a remedy in folk medicine to treat various disorders like; hypertension, headache, stomach disorders, asthma, diabetes and malaria. Consumption of this plant for pain relief is one of its venerable usage. In this study, we aimed to investigate the analgesic effect and mechanism of action of Moringa stenopetala. Thus, in this experiment 80% methanol crude extract of the leaves of M.stenopetala was evaluated for its analgesic properties and mechanism of action using established animal models. Swiss albino mice of either sex were randomly divided into eleven groups. The negative control group was orally given 0,1 ml of saline. The positive control received depron (500mg/kg) and also were treated with 80 % methanol extract of M. stenopetala at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg orally. Animals were then subjected to a tests including hot plate, tail immersion, acetic acid induced writhing before and 45 min later after administation of the extract. 100mg/kg dose of 80 % methanol extract of M. stenopetala was used to predict analgesic mechanism of action by giving antagonists naloxone (non selective-opioid antagonist, 5 mg/kg), ketanserin (5-HT2 receptor antagonist-1mg/kg) and yohimbine (α2 receptor antagonist-1mg/kg) intraperitoneally. No reduction effect was obsereved in case of naloxone and shown significant pain reduction effect with ketanserin and yohimbine. It was antagonized in the writhing test and a significant analgesic effect is shown on the groups that were treated by naloxone and yohimbine. In this thesis, the orally administered doses of the tested MSE has been shown to be antinociceptive effect both on peripheral and central nervous system pathways. It is expected that analgesic effect takes place through noradrenergic and serotonergic effects which implies it acts in central nervous system pathway significantly and it is also determined that the opioidergic sistem is partly involved. In the writhing test used to determine the peripheral antinociceptive effect, opioidergic and noradrenergic pathways have been determined to be more effective. As a result, M. stenopetala plant can be evaluated interms of substance that has antinociceptive effect and can be recommended for further studies in terms of pain treatment.