ANTINOCICEPTIVE EFFECT

Pain is a complex sensory and emotional experience managed with analgesics. These drugswhich has adverse effects and addiction potential have driven the search for safer alternatives from medicinal plants. Icacina trichantha oliv. is a plant used in West African for managing pain and inflammation. However, there is limited scientific evidence supporting such claims. This study evaluates the antinociceptive potential of the hydro-methanol leaf extract of Icacina trichantha in mice. Fresh leaves of I. trichantha was obtained, air-dried, pulverized and extracted using 1:1 methanol and deionized water to obtain H-MLE and then concentrated to dryness in an oven at 40°C. Phytochemical screening was carried out using standard methods. The antinociceptive experiment was conducted using two murine models: the hot water immersion test for and acetic acid-induced writhing test. Swiss albino mice “25” were divided into five groups of n = 5. Group I was administered deionized water, group II–IV was administered the extract at graded doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg, and group V, morphine (2mg/kg) for hot water immersion and aspirin, 100 mg/kg for the acetic acid-induced writhing. Phytochemical
screening revealed the presence of flavonoids, tannins, saponins, phenolics, alkaloids and carbohydrates. Results obtained revealed that H-MLE had a significant result (P<0.001) in the acetic acid-induced writhing test, but had no significant result (P>0.05) in the hot water
immersion test. This study supports its use in alleviating pain and inflammation in traditional medicine which could be due to the presence of its secondary metabolites