Anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect of an ointment containing carotenoids of the hexane extract of Cladophora aegagropila
Authors: Aleksandrova O. I. , Gritsuk A. I. , Eberle L. V. , Radaieva I. M. , Ustianska O. V. , Tsisak A. О. 
Published: April 2024

Annotation. This article is dedicated to the study of the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect of the ointment, which contains carotenoids from the hexane extract of the algae Cladophora aegagropila. Experiments were conducted on 10 white laboratory rats weighing 150-170 g for each type of inflammation. For carrageenan-induced inflammation, the first group of animals (5 rats) was injected with carrageenan solution and did not receive therapy; to the second group of animals (5 rats) ointment with carotenoids was applied to the affected limb within 3 days of the experiment after the introduction of the phlogogen solution. No ointment was used for trypsin-induced inflammation in the first group of animals (5 rats); the second group of animals (5 rats) had an ointment with carotenoids applied to the hind limb one hour before the trypsin solution was injected into it. The evaluation of treatment results was carried out on the basis of the dynamics of changes in morphological indicators - the width and volume of the affected limb. On the model of carrageenan-induced inflammation, parameters were measured daily for 6 days of the experiment; on the model of trypsin-induced inflammation - after 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12 hours after the introduction of the phlogogenic agent. The analgesic effect of the ointment was studied on models of a hot plate and chemical irritation of the limbs of white mice weighing 20-22 g, 5 heads in a group. The control group of animals did not have ointment applied to their limbs before the respective irritation, the second group of animals had 2% ointment with carotenoids applied to their limbs 20 minutes before the corresponding test, the third group of animals - 2% ointment with anesthesin. According to the "hot plate" test, the latency period of the animals' pain reaction was measured, according to the "capsaicin irritation" test, the time of the manifestation of the animals' pain reaction was measured. The results of the experiments were calculated using the Microsoft Excel software package using the values of the average arithmetic value (M) and the average deviation of the average arithmetic value (m); the reliability of the differences of the obtained data relative to the control values was calculated according to the Student's criterion. It was established that carotenoid ointment exhibits anti-inflammatory activity in the treatment of developed inflammation in the carrageenan-induced edema model, inhibiting the inflammation process of the rear limb of rats during the experiment by an average of 17% in width and 34% in volume of the affected limb compared to the parameters of untreated animals. The anti-inflammatory effect of the ointment is also observed in the prevention of inflammatory reactions, which was shown on the model of trypsin-induced edema: the decrease in morphological indicators is on average during the entire experiment by 18% in width and by 27% in volume of the affected limb compared to the indicators of untreated animals. It was found that the proposed ointment, although it is inferior to the effect of the ointment with the reference drug anesthesin, but also has an analgesic effect, increasing the latent period of the pain reaction by 3 times in the “hot plate” test and reducing the time of pain manifestation by 1.6 times in the test chemical irritation. Thus, the carotenoids of Cladophora aegagropila in the composition of the ointment have anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, which is of interest in further studying their pharmacological action for the purpose of use in medicine.