ANTI-ARTHRITIC EFFECTS OF ADHATODA VASICA, EMBLICA OFFICINALIS AND CLITORIA TERNATEA VIA DOWN REGULATION OF SYNOVIAL MMP-2 ACTIVITY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Rana Adhikary and Biswadev Bishayi*

ABSTRACT

Antiarthritic activity of methanolic extracts of Adhatoda vasica leaves (AVE), Emblica officinalis fruits (EOE) and Clitoria ternatea flower petals (CTE) on arthritic mice. Plant materials were tested for total phenolic contents (TPC), total flavonoid contents (TFC), and DPPH radical scavenging activities by simple biochemical analysis. Arthritis was induced by injecting type II collagen in CFA and IFA; and the arthritic mice were administered with 100, 200 and 50 mg.kg body weight doses of AVE, EOE and CTE respectively at alternative days upto day 24. Antioxidant status, generation of superoxide anions and NO, as well as expression of TLR-2, iNOS, COX-2 and MMP-2 were assessed from synovial tissue. Levels of different cytokines and CRP were measured from both synovial tissue as well as serum. Among the plant materials, EOE was found to have highest TPC, and CTE was found to have highest TFC and DPPH radical scavenging activity. Highest antiarthritic effect was shown by CTE, in comparison to AVE and EOE in terms of synovial radical scavenging, cytokine production and MMP-2 activity. This can also be positively correlated to highest flavonoid content of CTE in comparison to AVE and EOE in the present study. It can be concluded that C. ternatea flower petals possess potential antiarthritic activity over that of other plant materials in this study which is directly correlated to its highest flavonoid content. Therefore further studies on flavonoids present in flower petals of C. ternatea are warranted for development of herbal antiarthritic drugs.

Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, Flavonoids, Cytokines, Antioxidants.