1: J Ethnopharmacol. 2004 Jun;92(2-3):209-14. 

In vivo anti-inflammatory activity of Alchornea cordifolia (Schumach. & Thonn.)
Müll. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae).

Manga HM, Brkic D, Marie DE, Quetin-Leclercq J.

Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie, Unite CHAM 72.30, Ecole de Pharmacie, UCL, Av. E.
Mounier 72, 1200 Brussels, Belgium. Helene.Mavar@cham.ucl.ac.be

Alchornea cordifolia (Schumach. & Thonn.) Müll. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae) is a
widely distributed plant in Africa. It is used in the traditional medicine of
many African countries for the treatment of bacterial, fungal, parasitic and
inflammatory disorders. Aqueous decoction and methanol leaf extracts were tested
for their ability to reduce Croton oil-induced oedema in the mouse ear, after
topical application. The methanol leaf extract dose-dependently inhibited the
Croton oil-induced ear oedema in mice (ID(50)<500 microg/cm(2)). A bio-assay
guided liquid-liquid fractionation of this methanol extract gave four active
fractions: water insoluble (F1), hexane (F2), ethyl acetate (F3) and water (F4).
The hexane fraction showed a very high activity (42% inhibition at 0.7
microg/cm(2)) as compared to the control. The other fractions were less active
(F1: 56% at 506.2 microg/cm(2); F3: 57% at 289.3 microg/cm(2); F4: 32% for 203.8
microg/cm(2)) while indomethacin gave 49% of inhibition at 90 microg/cm(2). The
activity of F1 and F3 may be at least in part explained by the presence of
anti-inflammatory flavonoids (hyperoside and quercitrin, quercitrin being
identified in the plant for the first time) while the activity was not
correlated to the tannin contents. None of these compounds were detected in the
most active F2 fraction. These results support the reported traditional use of
this plant against topical inflammatory disorders.

PMID: 15138002 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]