Background:
Caryocar brasiliense, popularly known as pequi, is widely distributed
in the Amazon rainforest and Brazilian savannah. The fruit obtained from pequi is
used in cooking and has folk use as an anti-inflammatory and for the treatment of respiratory
disease. Until now, these two properties had not been scientifically demonstrated for
Pequi oil in a carrageenan model.
Objective:
Our group determined the composition and safe use of Pequi oil from the Savannah
of Campo Grande, and the anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities of this
pequi oil were investigated in vivo models.
Materials and Methods:
Doses of 300, 700, and 1000 mg/kg of Pequi oil were administered
orally (p.o.) to Swiss male mice, and three parameters of inflammation (mechanical
hyperalgesia, cold, hyperalgesia, and oedema) were analyzed in a carrageenan model to induce
an inflammatory paw state.
Results and Discussion:
The effects of Pequi oil were also carrageenan in pleurisy model,
formalin, and acetic acid induced nociception. Oral administration of 1,000 mg/kg orally
Pequi oil (p.o.) inhibited (*P<0.05), the migration of total leukocytes, but not alter plasma
extravasation, in the pleurisy model when compared to control groups. The paw edema
was inhibited with doses of 700 (P <0.05) and 1,000 mg (P<0.001) of pequi oil after 1, 2,
and 4 hours after carrageenan. Pequi oil (1,000 mg/kg) also blocked the mechanical hyperalgesy
and reduced cold allodynia induced by carrageenan in paw (P <0.05). Pequi oil
treatment (1,000 mg/kg) almost blocked (P < 0.001) all parameters of nociception observed
in formalin and acid acetic test.
Conclusion:
This is the first time that the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of Pequi
oil have been shown.
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