Investigating the Edema Reducing Characteristics of Hydroalcoholic Root Extract of Lagerstroemia speciosa

Abstract

Lagerstroemia speciosa (Family: Lythraceae) is a semi-deciduous plant of medium-size (30-35 m) found in South and Southeast Asia. After searching several pharmaceutical databases, it was observed that no anti-inflammatory screening has been done so far on the root extract of L. speciosa. The present research was aimed at exploring the anti-inflammatory activity of root methanolic extract of L. speciosa (RELS) through in vitro HRBC (human red blood cell) membrane lysis model. The hydroalcoholic extract produced noteworthy activity (67.11%) as compared to diclofenac sodium, the standard drug (82.80%) when studied in hypotonicity-induced RBC membrane lysis method owing to the excellent antioxidant properties as well as targeting the inflammation-oriented molecular targets such as interleukins and cytokines. The initial investigation opened new avenues of natural products or herbal (natural) pharmacotherapeutics for treating various kinds of inflammation. However, further research exploration is essentially required to develop formulations that can be taken into therapeutic applications.