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Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Aqueous Extract of Zea mays

Husk in Male Wistar Rats

Article  in  Journal of medicinal food · February 2010

DOI: 10.1089/jmf.2008.0311 · Source: PubMed

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JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL FOOD
J Med Food 13 (2) 2010, 343-347
t_· Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. and Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
DOl: 10.1089/jmf.2008.03JJ

Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Aqueous Extract

of Zea mays Husk in Male Wi star Rats
Bamidele V. Owoyele,1 Muhammed N. Negedu! Samuel O. Olaniran! Samuel A. Onasanwo?
Stephen O. Oguntoye? Joseph O. Sanya,1 Sabitiu A. Oyeleke,4 Adekemi J. Ibidapo,1 and Ayodele O. Soladoyel

Deparrments oll Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences. 3Chemistry, and 4 Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
University of florin, florin; and 2Department of Physiology, University oJ"fbadan, fbadan, Nigeria

ABSTRACT The analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of Zea mays husk extract (25, SO, 100, and 200 mg/kg of body
weight) were investigated in rats_ The hot plate and formalin-induced paw licking modeis were used to assess analgesic effects
of the C).lraCL whereas the calTageenan and cotton pellet models were used for the evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity.
The extract at 25, SO, lOa, and 200 mg/kg body weight significantly (P < .05) reduced pain stimuli and inflammatory activity
when compared with the control group. The reductions in paw licking time and granuloma weight in the formalin and cotton
pellet models were both dose dependent. Also, the 200 mg/kg doses of the extract produced higher effects compared with
indomethacin (5 mg/kg body of weight) in all the tests_ These observations sugge,l that Z mavs husk eXlraCI may have
analgesic and anti-inflammatory-effects that may be due to its tannins and polyphenolic constituenls. These results provide
scientific validation for the use of Z mays husk decoction for the treatmenl of pain and inflammatory conditions in Nigerian
folk medicine.

KEY WORDS: • analgesic' anti-inflammatory' edema' Zea mays husk extract

INTRODUCTION coction of the husk is also used for the treatment of pain and
arthritis_ Therefore the present study was undertaken to in-
Z FA N1A YS L.
(English), (FA MIL
Indian corn,Y or
POACEA), also known
corn (America), as maize
is a cereal that
vestigate the scientific basis, if any, of this notion_

produces one of the 1110st important edible grains in the

world.I-:; Maize originated from South America and was MATERIALS AND METHODS
introduced to Nigeria in the 16th century2 It is a tall annual
Animals
plant with strong erect stalks and a fibrous root system
having long narrow leaves spaced alternately on opposite Male albino rats (Rattus norvegicus) of the Wistar strain
~ ~ ~
~ide~ of the stem. It produces ears that are enclosed by weighing 132 ± 5_0 g were obtained from the animal
numerous husks, which are modified leaves5 The grains are breeding unit orthe Department of Biochemistry, University
prepared and consumed in different parts of Nigeria and all of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. The animals were housed in clean
over the worldJ In addition, the grains, leaves, cornsilks, cages and in well-ventilated rooms (temperature, 25 ± C; J

stalk, and inflorescence of the maize plant are used for the 12-hour light/rlay cycle; 50 ± 5% humidity). They were
treatment of several ailments. The corn silk is used as an maintained on tap water and mouse cubes (Bendel Feeds
antidiabetic or diuretic, and decoction of the silk is con- and Flour Mills, Ewu, Nigeria) ad libitum. The study was
sumed for the treatment of urinary troubles and gallstones6;-8 carried out follovving approval from the Ethical Committee
The ash of the cob is used for the treatment of cough7 The of the College of Health Sciences, Uni versity of I1orin, on
corn husk has been reported to contain arabinoxylan, which the use and care of laboratory animals.
has immunological effects.9 _
Information obtained from some traditional medicine Animal grouping
practitioners and some of their patients reveals that the de-
Animals were divided into six groups (A--F) in each of the
experiment. Groups A and B (negative and positive) con-
iVlanuscnpl received 12 Decemher ::W08. Re\'ision accepted 29 April 2009. trols were orally administered saline (0.93% NaCl) and in-
domethacin (5 mg/kg of body weight), respectively_ The
Add}"('ss ('Or/'('SIU'J/dfll("(' 10: Dr. B. V. Ul1'oyele. Depanmf1lf of Physiology. FaCilIty (~r
13:1\;('Medical S.·iel1(,(,s. l'nhersily (~t /lorin. P.M.B. /5/5. lIorill. Nigeria, £-//Iail: remaining four groups (C~F) received orally the extracts at
delL·.' t:k@yahon.colll 25, 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg of bocy weight, respectively.

343

•
344 OWOYELE ET AL.

Plallt extract inhibitory activity of the extract was determined using the
following expression:
The Z. mavs husks were collected from commercial maize
sellers in the IIorin metropolis. Sample of the husk was
identified by Prof. A.F. Oladele of the Department of P ercen t age 111Ilion
. h'b't' = ------------
(C-CO)COlllrol-(C-CO\realed x 100
(C, - CO)conlrol
Biology, University of Horin, and subsequently by T.K.
Odewo of the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (Ibadan,
where C, = paw circumference at time t, Co = paw circum-
Nigeria) with a voucher number of FHI 107663. Thereafter,
ference before carrageenan injection, and C, - Co = edema
the husks were air dried for 2 weeks and milled into powder. formed.
Four hundred grams of the powdered sample was extracted
in 5 L of distilled water for 48 hours. This was filtered, and
Cotton pellet granuloma. A sterilized cotton pellet
the filtrate was evaporated on a carefully regulated water
(30 mg) was surgically introduced into the groin region of
bath (maintained at a temperature of 90°C) to yield a light
rats for 7 days according to the method described by Mossa
brown solid extract of 18.4 g. The extract was stored in a
et ai. 19 The animals were treated orally with saline, indo-
refrigerator (4°C).
methacin, or extract (25, SO, 100, or 200 mg/kg of body
weight) for the same number of days and were sacrificed on
Plntochemical analysis day 8 using diethyl ether. Thereafter the pellet together with
Preliminary phytochemical of the extract using standard the attached granulomatous tissues was dissected out and
procedures for alkaloids,1O reducing sugars, II tannins,12 dried to a constant weight in the oven maintained at 60°C.
flavonoids, 13 saponins,14 steroids, and anthraquinones.lo The weight of the granuloma tissue formed around each
pellet was measured, and the mean was determined for each
Analgesic experiments group.

Hot plate latenc)' test. The method used by Santos

Statistical analysis
et al.15was adapted for this experiment. In brief, 12-hour
fasted rats were orally administered saline, indomethacin, or The data obtained in the various experiments were eval-
extract (25, SO, 100, or 200 mg/kg of body weight), and uated using one-way analysis of variance followed by the
after 30 minutes the animals were placed on a hot plate Duncan multiple range test. The results obtained were
(Gallenkamp, Loughborough, UK) that was maintained at considered significant when P < .05.
55 C. The time taken for each rat to respond (usually by
jumping from the plate) to the thermal stimulus was noted as RESULTS
the latency time (in seconds). The animals were again sub-
jected to the thermal stimulus at 90 and 120 minutes post- Hot plate test
extract administration. The mean of the latency time was
The results obtained from this study shows that oral ad-
determined for each group.
ministration of Z. mays husk significantly (P < .05) increased
the reaction time of the animals to the thermal stimuli. The
Formalin-induced paw licking. The method described increase in reaction time was produced by the extract at SO.
by Hunskaar and Holel6 was used for this experiment.
100, and 200 mg/kg of body weight. Specifically, the extract
Freshly prepared formalin solution (0.2 mL of 3% formalin) at 200 mg/kg of body weight increased the reaction time
was injected subcutaneously into the subplantar sUlfaceof from 1.2 ± 0.06 to 2.82 ± 0.49 at 30 minutes after adminis-
the left hind paw of rats in each group I hour after the oral tration. The same patterns of results were obtained at 60 and
administration of physiological saline, indomethacin, or 90 minutes after extract administration. The extract at
extract (25, SO, 100, or 200 mg/kg of body weight). The 200 mg/kg of body weight produced higher activity than
time spent by each rat in licking the injected paws within the indomethacin (5 mg/kg of body weight) (Table I).
first 5 minutes and 20-30 minutes after formalin injection
(known as the early and late phases) was recorded. The
Formalin-induced paw licking
mean of the time spent in licking the paw in each phase was
determined for each group of animals .. The results of the formalin-induced paw licking test
showed that Z. mays husk extract at doses of 25, SO, 100, and
Anti-inflammator)' experiments 200 mg/kg of body weight produced significant inhibition in
the two phases of the formalin test. Furthermore, the results
Carrageenan-induced paw edema in nits. This test was
also showed that the extract at 100 and 200 mg/kg body
carried out according to the method used by Olajide et ai. 17
weight produced significantly (P < .05) higher inhibition in
In brief, 0.1 mL of I % carrageenan was injected into the
the phases of the formalin test than indomethacin (Table 2).
right hind paw of the animals I hour after the oral admin-
istration of saline, indomethacin, or extract (25, SO, 100, or
Carrageenan-induced paw edema
200 mg/kg of body weight). The paw size of the animals in
each group was measured hourly for 5 hours usina cotton In the carrageenan-induced edema test the higher doses
thread and a meter rule as previously described.lf Edema (100 and 200 mg/kg of body weight) produced significant
 ANALGESIC AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY Z. MAYS HUSK 345

TABLE I. EFFECTS OF THE AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF Z. MA YS HUSK TABLE 3. EFFECTS OF THE AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF Z MA YS HUSK
IN THE HOT PLATE TEST IN MALE WISTAR RATS ON CARRAGEENAN-INDUCED PAW EDEMA IN MALE WtSTAR RATS

Reaction time (seconds) Increase in paw

Croup. dose (ms/kg (!f'--------------- size (edema) (mm) inhibition (o/c)
body weight) oral/I' 30 60 90 Croup, dose (mg/kg
of body weight) orally 3 hours 5 hours 3 hours 5 hours
Control (saline) 1.20 ± 0.06 I 16 ± 0.06 0.74 ± 0.10
Z. mal'S husk Control (saline) 7.0 ± OA I 6AO ± 0.40
25 1.12 ± O.26"bc 1./0 ± 0.13c 1.48 ± 0.29* Z. mays husk
SO 1.62 ± 0.38'" J.41 ± 0.10"" 1.56 ± 0.17* 25 6.80 ± 0.50"bc 2.0 ± O.O*"iK 02.86 68.75
100 1.81 ±O.16* 1.73±0.16*" 1.71 ±0.14* SO 5.60 ± 0.42*" 2.20 ± 0.20*"b 20.0 65.63
200 2.82 ± 0.49*" 2.82 ± 0.34*'1 2.14 ± 0.28*" 100 4.50 ± 0.91'" 1.40 ± 0.69' 35.71 78.13
Indomethacin (5) 1.93±0.21* ].92 ± 0.23* 1.36±0.J4* 200 4.80 ± 0.38*" 1.40 ± 0.31 * 31.43 7813
Indomethacin (5) 2.40 ± 0.22* 1.20 ± 0.19* 65.71 81.25
Data are mean ± SEM values (/1 = 5).
"'p < 0.05 significantly different from control; "p < .05 significantly differ- Data are mean ± SEM values (n = 5).
ent from the indomethacin group; bp < .05 significantly different from the *p < .05 significant.ly different from the control; "p < .05 significantly
200 mg/kg group; C P < .05 significantly different from the 100 mg/kg group. different from the indomethacin group; bp < .05 significantly different from
the 200mg/kg group; cp< .05 significantly different from the 100mg/kg
group.

(P < .05) inhibition of the paw edema compared with the

control at 3 hours after carrageenan injection. However, all TABLE 4. EFFECTS OF THE AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF Z. MA VS HUSK
the doses of the extract significantly inhibited the edema at IN THE COTTON PELLET GRANULOMA TEST IN MALE WISTAR RATS
5 hours after carrageenan injection. Indomethacin (5 mg/kg
of body weight) significantly (P < .05) reduced paw edema Croup, dose (mg/kg body Increase ;11 'weighl
at 3 hours after carrageenan injection compared with the of' weight) orally of' pellets (mg) inhibition (%)
extract Cfable 3). Control (saline) 51.21 ± 2.38
Z. mays husk
Cotton peLLetgranuloma test 25 46.50 ± 8.33"bcd 9.12
SO 26.44 ± 2.32'" 48.37
The results obtained from the cotton pellet test shows that 100 17.55 ± 5.0* 65.73
the extract at doses of 25, SO, 100, and 200 mg/kg of body 200 12.6/ ±2.41"'" 75.54
weight produced dose-dependent inhibition of granuloma Indomethacin (5) 27.75 ± 1.92* 45.81
formation in rats. The effect of the 200 mg/kg dose of the Data are mean ± SEM values (n = 5).
extract was higher than that of indomethacin (5 mg/kg) *P < .05 significantly different from the control; "p < .05 significantly
(Table 4). different from the indomethacin group; bp < .05 significantly different from
the 200 mg/kg group; C P < .05 significantly different from the 100 mg/kg
Phytochemical screening group; dp < .05 significantly different from the 50 mg/kg group.

The results of the phytochemical screening showed that

TABLE 5. PHYTOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF CRUDE
the extract contains tannins, polyphenols, and steroids
AQUEOUS EXTRACTS OF Z. MA YS HUSK
Cfable 5).
Compound Aqueous extroct

TABLE 2. EFFECT OF THE AQl'EOUS EXTRACT OF Z. MA YS HUSK

Alkaloids Absent
ON FORMALIN-INDUCED PAW LICKING IN MALE WISTAR RATS
Phlobotanins Present
Tannins Present
Licking time (seconds) Anthraquinone Absent
Polyphenols Present
Croup. dose (lng/kg of' Early phase Late phase Reducing sugars Absent
boel\' Il'eight) ()mlll- (i-5 minutes) (20-30 min) Flavonoids Absent
Saponins Absenl
Control (saline) 90.03 ± 2.37 82.04 ± 3.64 .
Steroids Present
Z. mm's husk
25 71.74 ± 2.95*obcd 40.09 ± 2.38"l1c
SO 58.0 ± 2.71 *bc 37.30 ± 2.62""c
100 32.77 ± 1.16*"" 12.02 ± 0.12"'"" DISCUSSION
200 27.70± 1.10*" 10.58 ± 0.42*"
Indomethacin (5) 63.30 ± 1.36* 40.26 ± 3.85* The present study was undertaken to investigate the an-
Data are mean ± SEM values (n = 5).
algesic and anti-inflammatory activities of Z. mays husk
"P < .05 significantly different from the control; "p < .05 significantly extract in experimental animals. Laboratory experiments
different from the indomethacin group; "p < .05 significantly different from were carried out using two models each for analgesic and
the 200 mg/kg group; cp < .05 significantly different from the 100 mg/kg anti-inflammatory activities. These models are commonly
group; "p < .05 significantly different from the 50 mg/kg group. used in the field of analgesic and anti-inflammatory studies.
346 OWOYELE ET AI..

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