Exploring the therapeutic potential of a polyherbal combination for pain and inflammation

Background: Pain and inflammation are physiological responses to tissue injury and serves as a defense mechanism against tissue injury caused by various harmful stimuli. Nearly all acute and chronic diseases, are influenced by inflammatory process. Presently, available pharmacologic agents have limitations due to their adverse effects. Therefore, there has been growing attention towards alternative and combination-based therapeutic approaches aimed at attaining enhanced efficacy with minimal adverse effects. In folk medicines Boswellia serrata, Brassica nigra, Piper longum and Withania somnifera have been reported to have analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect but their efficacy in combination, has not been studied. Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of Boswellia serrata, Brassica nigra, Piper longum, Withania somnifera and their combination using in vivo models. Method: The plant extracts were administered orally to experimental animals, individually and in combination, at doses of 400 and 800 mg/kg. The analgesic activity was assessed using the tail immersion, hot plate and acetic acid-induced writhing tests in Swiss albino mice, while anti-inflammatory activity was examined via carrageenan-induced paw edema in Wistar albino rats. Acute toxicity was evaluated with the doses up to 3000 mg/kg. Results: In the acute toxicity study no mortality was observed. All individual extracts significantly increased pain thresholds and reduced inflammation in carrageenan-induced paw edema assay in dose depended manner as compared to vehicle controls (p < 0.05), with the polyherbal combination producing the highly significant effects (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The obtained results suggest that each of these plants possesses analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties while their combination offers enhanced efficacy, likely due to complementary pharmacological action among the plant extracts, indicating their use as more effective herbal therapeutic alternative for pain and inflammation.