Antiarthritic activity of Majoon Suranjan (a polyherbal Unani formulation) in rat

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Majoon Suranjan (MS) is a polyherbal formulation used in Unani system of medicine for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The present study evaluates the antiarthritic efficacy of this formulation in three different experimental models. METHODS: The anti-inflammatory activity of MS (in doses of 450, 900 and 1800 mg/kg body wt) was evaluated using the turpentine oil induced paw oedema model and the antiarthritic efficacy was evaluated using the formaldehyde and complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) induced arthritis models. Aspirin (100 mg/kg body wt) was used as the standard drug in all the models. In order to assess the safety of the test drug, oral acute and 28 day toxicity studies were also carried out. RESULTS: MS produced a dose dependent protective effect in all the experimental models. Its antiarthritic efficacy was comparable to aspirin in formaldehyde induced arthritis and was superior to aspirin in turpentine oil induced paw oedema and CFA induced arthritis. MS also inhibited the delayed increase in joint diameter as seen in control and aspirin treated animals in CFA induced arthritis. Oral LD(50) of MS was found to be >5000 mg/kg in rats. Chronic administration did not produce any significant physiological changes in the tested animals. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: Results of the present study suggest that the antiarthritic activity of MS was due to the interplay between its anti-inflammatory and disease modifying activities, thus supporting its use in traditional medicine for the treatment of RA.