Sumita Bera, Sanjib Bhattacharya, J. N. Pandey, Moulisha Biswas

Abstract

Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. (Nelumbonaceae), commonly known as lotus in English, is an aquatic perennial plant grown and cultivated commercially in India for its ornamental flowers. The present study assessed the different solvent extracts of N. nucifera leaf for thin layer chromatography (TLC) and also evaluated their analgesic potential by acetic acid induced writhing assay in Swiss albino mice. The chloroform extract yielded maximum numbers of spots in TLC. All the test extracts exhibited significant analgesic activity. The methanol extract was found to be the most potent followed by the chloroform and petroleum ether extracts respectively. The present preliminary study demonstrated marked analgesic activity of N. nucifera leaf in Swiss mice.