Determination of the Acute Anti-inflammatory Effect of Kalamunggay (Moringa oleifera) in Albino Rats

Ma. Eva C. San Juan, Sonia S. Morales, Aurea Conchita L. Yngayo, Merry Rose M. Selgas, Stephen Jay S. Falcon, Albert Jay Jaryle B. Albaran, Kelly Loise N. Cornejo, Cirus Ralph B. Golez


Kalamunggay (Moringa oleifera) is one of the widely and easily grown plants locally which has been effectively used as an antiinflammatory folkloric remedy. In consideration of the increasing burden of diseases associated with inflammation, this study assessed the acute anti-inflammatory effect of a formulated syrup from kalamunggay leaf ethanolic extract, in the paw edema of carrageenan-induced albino rats. The experimentations utilized three Swiss mice for the determination of the Acute Oral Toxicity Dose (OECD 423) of kalamunggay leaf extract; while 10 and 21 healthy female albino rats for the Approximate Effective Dose (AED) determination and bioassay, respectively. The
results revealed that the kalamunggay leaf extract was non toxic even at high dose level of 2000 mg/kg body weight. The AED of the extract was determined to be from the starting dose of 10 mg/kg to 2511.84 mg/kg body weight. The kalamunggay syrup was formulated to contain 21.87 mg/kg dose for the subsequent bioassay tests. Post-treatment observations include decrease in paw edema only after 4 hours in animals treated with the formulated kalamunggay syrup, while the animals that received Ibuprofen took longer to show edema reduction. The animals that received the placebo simple syrup manifested the least decrease in paw edema. Calculating the mean percentage decrease in the paw edema of the treated animals revealed percentage reductions of 52.45%, 24.39% and 5.78% in the paw edema of albino rats treated with the kalamunggay formulated syrup, Ibuprofen (as positive control) and simple syrup (as negative control), respectively. Analysis of Variance and post hoc multiple comparison tests revealed existing significant differences (p<0.05) between the different treatments, all in favor of the kalamunggay syrup. This indicates that the three treatments’ antiinflammatory effects are not comparable or equal. Specifically, the kalamunggay extract syrup exhibited significantly higher (p<0.05) anti-inflammatory capacity than the commercial drug Ibuprofen, which
exhibited significantly higher (p<0.05) anti-inflammatory capacity than the simple syrup. As such, the results of this study imply potent property of the kalamunggay leaf extract in eliminating paw edema in carageenan-induced albino rats.

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