Anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of ethanolic extract and two limonoids from Melia toosendan fruit

The fruit of Melia toosendan Sieb. et Zucc. (MTF) is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of stomachache and many acute or chronic inflammations, as well as ascariasis. This paper aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of the MTF extract and two main limonoid-type triterpenoids isolated from MTF. The ethanolic extract of MTF and two limonoids, isotoosendanin ( 1) and 1- O-tigloyl-1- O-debenzoylohchinal ( 2) were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. Acetic acid-induced vascular permeability and λ-carrageenan-induced hind paw edema tests in mice were used to investigate anti-inflammatory activity; and acetic acid-induced writhing and hot-plate tests in mice were used to determine analgesic effect. Both the ethanolic extract and two limonoids displayed significant anti-inflammatory effects. Although the ethanolic extract showed remarkable analgesic effects in both writhing and hot-plate tests, the two limonoids had analgesic effects just in writhing test. The results suggested that the ethanolic extract of MTF had obvious anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities, and the two limonoids were the active constituents contributing to the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of MTF.