Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine analgesic and neuropharmacological effects of ethanolic extract of root of Heritiera fomes Buch.-Ham (RHF). All the tests were conducted on Swiss albino mice in three distinct doses (100, 200, 300 mg/kg body weight). The peripheral and central analgesic actions in rodents were investigated using the acetic acid-induced writhing test and the tail immersion test, respectively. The extract significantly (p < 0.05, p < 0.01) prolonged the latency period to the thermal stimuli in the tail immersion method in a dose-dependent manner which was comparable to the reference standard Morphine. The extract (300 mg/kg) produced a maximum of 68.08% inhibition (p < 0.01) of the writhing reflex in the acetic acid-induced writhing test, compared to the reference medicine Diclofenac-Na (10 mg/kg) (76.45%). Hole cross, open field, and thiopental sodium-induced sleeping time tests were carried out to assess its CNS depressant action. According to statistical analyses, the extract makes mice sleep longer when they are exposed to thiopental sodium. RHF showed a significant (P<0.05, P<0.01) diminution in locomotion of rodents in both open field and hole cross methods at utmost dose in comparison with control group. Taken together, these findings imply that H. fomes root extract has strong analgesic and central nervous system depressive qualities. Advanced investigations are required for extensively phytochemical screening and establishing precise mechanisms of action.