The aim of this study was to assess the anti-inflammatory effects of a combination of medicinal plants on two models of inflammation. Subacute toxicity was assessed by daily oral administration of 2000 mg/kg body weight (bw). Subacute inflammation and arthritis were induced using the carrageenan air pouch granuloma model and Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA) respectively. After 28 days of administration, the combination at 2000 mg/kg proved to be non-toxic and induced a significant reduction (p<0.05) in transaminases and total cholesterol. The combinations C3 (150 mg/kg of T. macroptera + 250 mg/kg of X. americana), C2 ((250 mg/kg of T. macroptera + 150 mg/kg of X. americana) and C1 (250 mg/kg of T. macropteria + 250 mg/kg of X. americana) inhibited fresh granuloma formation by 40.37, 45.63 and 58.32% and dry granulomas by 47.77, 55.08 and 61.24% respectively. The combinations significantly (p<0.001) reduced air pouch fluid volume and massive leukocytes infiltration compared with the control group. With regard to the anti-arthritic effect, the combination C1 showed significant inhibition (p<0.05) of primary and secondary lesions compared with the control CFA. The increase in serum ALT, AST and uric acid concentrations observed in the CFA control group was significantly reduced (p<0.001) by the combination C1. An antioxidant effect was observed with the administration of the combination C1 and prednisone, which resulted in a significant increase (P<0.01) in GSH, SOD and catalase activity and a decrease in MDA concentration (P<0.001) compared with the CFA control group.The results suggest that the combination C1 has anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic effects and prevents oxidative stress in arthritic rats.

Acute and Subacute toxicity investigations were carried out to evaluate the safety of M. oleifera leaf used in the treatment of various diseases and in nutrition. Five groups of 10 rats of both sex (5rats/sex) were constituted. The first group served as control and received distilled water 10mL/kg/ day while groups II, III, and IV respectively received orally and daily the ethanolic extract of Moringa oleifera at doses 200, 400 and 800mg/kg bw for 4 weeks. The last group (V) considered as satellite group received also received the EEM 800mg/kg daily and orally for 4 weeks. At the end of the test period (4 weeks), the animals of this last group were observed without any treatment for 2 weeks again before their sacrifice in order to study the persistence or the disappearance of possible toxic effects of the extract. The rat was segregated according to gender and housed in cages of 5 rats. In Subacute toxicity investigated with Wistar rats, no mortality was recorded during the experimentation period. Moreover, there was no significant change in weight gain, relative organ weight, or hematological and serum chemical parameters except in a group of female animals where we noticed a reversible decrease in serum ALAT level (at 400mg/kg), total cholesterol (at 400mg/kg) and LDL level (at 800mg/kg) compared to ED group. The histopathological examination had shown some differences between the treated group and the control group that cannot be considered treatment-related.