Analgesic and Sedative-Hypnotic Potentiality of Crude Methanolic Extract of Gomphandra tetrandra (Wall.) Sleumer Leaves.

Objectives: Gomphandra tetrandra (Wall.) Sleumer (leaves) belonging to the family Stemonuraceae was investigated for preliminary phytochemical screening and evaluating their pharmacological activities in various pharmacological models.

Materials and methods: The crude methanolic extract was screened with different chemical reagents for the qualitative detection of different phytochemical groups. The peripheral analgesic function was determined using the acetic acid-induced writhing procedure and sedative-hypnotic behaviors were assessed using hole-board, open field, and hole-cross tests using different doses of the extract (200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg body weight).

Results: Phytochemical screening revealed that methanolic extract of G. tetranda leaves contains steroids, gums, mucilages, phytosterols, carbohydrates, and flavonoids. The crude methanolic extract at 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg doses showed statistically significant activity in acetic acid-induced writhing inhibition test with 60% (p<0.01) and 76.47% (p<0.01) inhibition, respectively, compared to control. The extract also had dose-dependent substantial (p<0.01) sedative-hypnotic activities compared with diazepam in the hole-board, open field, and hole-cross tests.

Conclusion: It may be assumed that the methanolic leaf extract of G. tetrandra possesses a strong possibility of having analgesic and sedative-hypnotic activity due to the presence of bioactive compounds in its leaves. Moreover, observed results have opened a new era of in-depth research to discover the possible mechanism of analgesic and sedative-hypnotic activity.