Extract from the Seeds of Aframomum melegueta Alters Acetaminophen Oral Bioavailability in Sprague Dawley Rats

Abstract

IntroductionAframomum melegueta (AM) (Rose) K. Schum is of the genus Aframomum and family Zingiberceae. It is also a plant widely distributed in West Africa and renowned for quite a long time, for its medicinal properties and ubiquitous use; both as spice and folkloric remedy. 1 In Africa, Aframomum species have been traditionally used to treat illnesses such as inflammation, 2 hypertension, diarrhea, stomachache, bacterial infection, 3,4, and obesity. 5,2,22 Interest in this plant in recent times has brought attention to its various potential health benefits which are attributed to both its little known class of arylalkanoids and the widely known phenolic components. 6,3 Acetaminophen (N-acetyl-p-aminophenol; APAP) is the most commonly used drug for the treatment of pain and fever around the world and as an over-the-counter and prescription product. 7,8 Since previous studies have reported AMSE to have very potent actions on smooth muscles 9,10,11 , also because of the reported analgesic effect attributed to AMSE, 12 we decided to explore the possible pharmacokinetic interactions between the AMSE and APAP. The choice of APAP for this study was due to its ubiquitous over-thecounter use in mild pain, headache relief, and fever reduction, and also the fact that most patient prescriptions following Doctor Visits contain APAP.