Abstract

Portulaca tuberosa (P. tuberosa) Roxb belonging to the family Portulacaceae, is traditionally used internally in dysuria as well as applied externally to erysipelas by the natives. The aerial parts of the plant contain diterpenoids, pilosanone A and pilosanone B. Previous studies showed that P. tuberosa has good diuretic and analgesic effects when used by the people traditionally, however, in vivo antipyretic activity was still lacking for established scientific evidences; hence the present study was carried out to investigate and report the antipyretic activity of ethanolic leaf extract of P. tuberosa (ELPT) using aspirin as standard drug against pyrexia induced by subcutaneous injection of 20% w/v aqueous yeast suspension in normal saline at the dose of 10 ml/kg body weight. Swiss albino mice were used for the study and divided into 5 groups containing 6 mice in each group. Three doses of ELPT that is, 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg B/w were used for activity. After 4 h of extract administration, the rectal temperatures were recorded by digital thermometer (Holden medical B.V, Netherlands). The result showed that P. tuberosa leaf extract at a dose of 800 mg/kg possessed more potent significant (p < 0.01) antipyretic activity in comparison to the other doses that is, 200 and 400 mg/kg when compared to the standard.  

Key words: Portulaca tuberosa Roxb, yeast-induced pyrexia, antipyretic, aspirin.