Quantitative Analysis and Pharmacological Effects of Artemisia ludoviciana Aqueous Extract and Compounds

Abstract

Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt. (Asteraceae) is widely used in Mexican folk medicine for treating inflammation, diabetes and painful complaints. The in vivo antinociceptive, antiinflammatory and antihyperalgesic activities of an aqueous extract (AE) of the plant were investigated using well-known animal models. AE reduced the licking time in the formalin test in healthy and NA-STZ mice; the activity was better during the inflammatory phase; accordingly, it displayed significant antiinflammatory when tested at the same doses using the carrageenan-induced oedema model. AE also produced a significant dose-dependent antinociceptive effect in the hot plate test at 100 and 316 mg/kg (p.o.). Phytochemical analysis of the non-polar fraction of AE resulted in the isolation of two major lactones [achillin (1) and dehydroleucodin (2)], which showed antiinflammatory effect, being 2 the most active at 17.7 mg/kg. A suitable analytical method was successfully developed and validated to quantify 1 and 2. Altogether, these results tend to support the medicinal uses of the plant.