Anti-inflammatory effects of the products from Wilbrandia ebracteata on carrageenan-induced pleurisy in mice

Wilbrandia ebracteata Cogn. (Cucurbitaceae) is commonly known in Brazil as "Taiuia". The roots are employed in folk medicine for the treatment of seve ral diseases, such as rheumatic disease. This study has evaluated the anti- inflammatory action of dicloromethane fraction (F-DCM), purified fraction ( PFIII) and Cucurbitacin B extracted from crude extract of W ebracteata in e xperimental models in vivo. The F-DCM (0.3 to 10 mg.kg(-1),i.p. or 3 to 30 mg.kg(-1) p.o.) produced significant but not dose-dependent inhibition of t he carrageenan-induced cell influx and exsudate leakage in the pleural cavi ty of mice. The F-DCM 0.01 to 10 mg.kg(-1) i.p. or 0.1 to 10 mg.kg(-1) p.o. ) decreased the levels of PGE(2) in the exsudate leakage induced by carrage enan in the pleural cavity after 4 h with a calculated ID50 of 0.01 (0.002 - 0.09, i.p.) and 0.29 (0.05 - 1.45, p.o.) mg.kg(-1). The PFIII (3 mg.kg(-1 ), i.p.) inhibited 80% of cell migration (1.50 +/- 0.09 x 10(6) cells/cavit y) and exsudate leakage by about 50% (3.09 +/- 0.71 mu g/ml) in relation to the control group. Cucurbitacin B (0.1 mg.kg(-1), i.p.), the main compound of PFIII, reduced significantly the levels of PGE(2) in the exsudate leaka ge by 40.7% (10.41 +/- 2.67 ng.ml(-1)). These data,show that the active pri nciple(s) present in the F-DCM of W ebracteata elicited pronounced anti-inf lammatory effects when assessed by i.p. or p.o. routes, as well as PFIII. T he F-DCM was also able to prevent PGE(2) formation in exsudate leakage indu ced by carrageenan, as well as Cucurbitacin B, its active principle. These results indicate that the anti-inflammatory activity of Wilbrandia ebractea ta can be related with the inhibition of the production of PGE(2).