Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Pyretic Activities of Blumea mollis (D. Don) MERR.

Blumea mollis (Asteraceae) has been widely used in the traditional medicinal system for the treatment of a variety of diseases. However, to be clinically useful, more scientific data are needed. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the effects of B. mollis on acute and chronic inflammation. To assess the anti-inflammatory and antipyretic activities, water extract of B. mollis was tested in carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema. The rat paw oedema is considered as one of the most useful laboratory tests for assessing the anti-inflammatory activity of potential herbal crude extracts. The paw volumes, pyrexia and writhes in experimental rats were reduced significantly (p < 0.05) as compared to that of control. The anti-inflammatory effect of B. mollis clearly illustrates that the extracts obtained with the whole plant parts produced statistically significant acute anti-inflammatory effects.