Locally or Centrally Administered Ginkgo Extract Reduced Pain and Inflammation in Rat Model

A standardized extract from Ginkgo biloba administered either locally or centrally reduced chemically induced inflammation or pain in a rat model.

Investigators at Glasgow Caledonian University (United Kingdom) sought to determine the site of action of the standardized ginkgo extract EGb 761 by evaluating the antihyperalgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of EGb 761 after local and central drug administration in the rat carrageenan model of inflammation.

The investigators injected adult male Wistar rats with carrageenan (3%) or saline into the left hindpaw followed three hours later by a local injection of EGb 761 or vehicle or injection of EGb 761 or vehicle into the lumbar spinal cord region. Other animals received injections of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac as a positive control.

Results published in the May 2011 issue of the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia revealed that EGb 761--injected either into the spinal canal or directly into the injured area--effectively reduced inflammation and some types of pain. In reducing thermal hyperalgesia, it was just as effective as diclofenac. The EGb 761 effectively reduced swelling in the paw swelling, even when injected into the spinal canal. EGb 761, in contrast to diclofenac had no effect on abnormal responses to mechanical stimuli, such as a pinprick (mechanical hyperalgesia).

Senior author Dr. Sharron Dolan, senior lecturer in biological and biomedical sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University, said, "These studies indicate that EGb 761 may offer therapeutic benefit for the treatment of postinjury-associated thermal hyperalgesia and acute inflammation."

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Glasgow Caledonian University