Phytochemical Analysis and Pharmacological Activities of Methanolic Extract and Essential Oil from Rhizomes ofAlpinia malaccensis(Burm. f.) Roscoe

AbstractThe present study describes chemical composition, antipyretic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of essential oil and methanolic extract from rhizomes of Alpinia malaccensis. Fifty nine components were identified by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with eucalyptol (18.0%), and α-fenchyl acetate (16.7%), as the major constituents. The methanolic extract of A. malaccensis exhibited good anti-inflammatory effect (32.69%) by carrageenan induced method at a dose of 100 mg/kg b.wt. after 24 hours compared with essential oil. In acetic acid induced writhing test, essential oil exhibited significant (p<0.05) analgesic effect at both doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg b.wt. with 41.39% inhibition of writhes at 100 mg/kg b.wt. in comparision to its methanolic extract. For antipyretic activity by brewer's yeast suspension method, both essential oil and methanolic extracts exhibited significant pyrexia (p<0.05) for 50 mg/kg b.wt. and 100 mg/kg b.wt. in a dose dependent manner. The pres...