Doumbia Sékou, Haidara Mahamane, Dembélé Daouda Lassine, Ballo Mahamadou, Dénou Adama, Fofie N’Guessan Bra Yvette, Sanogo Rokia
In Mali, Acacia nilotica is widely used in traditional medicine in the management of many diseases including liver diseases. The objective was to estimate the toxicity and to evaluate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of aqueous (infused) extracts of leafy twigs, stem barks and fruits of A. nilotica. Toxicity was estimated according to OECD guidelines. The analgesic activity of the extracts was evaluated on the pain caused in mice or rats by acetic acid, formalin and hot water. The anti-inflammatory effect was determined on carrageenan edema in the paws of rats. Orally infused at 5000 mg/kg didn’t cause mortality in rats. Infused from all 3 organs demonstrated a significant reduction in pain and inflammation caused. The stem bark infused gave the best analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity in different tests performed. For the stem bark extract, the number of writhing was 24.80 + 4.27, comparable to that of paracetamol at 100 mg/kg. In the late phase of the formalin test, the same extract gave a percentage inhibition of 68.14% higher than 66.56% for acetylsalicylic acid at 100 mg/kg. For heat-induced pain, there was a 20.7% increase in tail withdrawal time from hot water compared to the negative control batch. The stem bark infused dose of 400 mg/kg exhibited inflammation inhibition percentages of 58.57%; 61.41% and 67.28% respectively at 1 hour, 3 hours and 5 hours after injection of carrageenan. These analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of aqueous extracts of A. nilotica, in particular the stem bark, can contribute to the management of painful and inflammatory symptoms associated with liver disease.