Background & Objective: Herbal medicine has an old history with a broad application all over the world. Many researches have focused on the curative as well as antinociceptive effects of herbal extracts. In the previous study the analgesic effect of Chamomile extract containing 2 mg/kg essence in Rats which revealed a significant analgesic effect were studied. In this study it is planned to compare the analgesic effect of chamomile extract and Morphine (as a standard analgesic) in mice.
Methods: This experimental study was carried out in Shahid Sadughi Medical School on 48 Syrian mice (25-30 grams) which were randomly divided into 8 groups. In this study the analgesic effect of intraperitoneal administration of Chamomile extract containing 2 mg/kg essence and different doses of Morphine (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg) were assessed by using Formalin Test (for chronic pain during 1 hr. post Formalin injection) and Tail Flick Test (for acute pain during 2 hr. post drug administration in 15 min. time intervals).
Results: The results of this study showed that 2nd phase of Formalin Test had more analgesic effect than that of 0.5 mg/kg morphine. In the case of Tail Flick Test its analgesic effect was prominent 30-90 min. after drug administration which was identical to the analgesic effect of 1.0 and 0.5 mg/kg Morphine Sulfate (P > 0.05).
Conclusion: Data from this study confirms the analgesic effect of chamomile essence which was indicated in our previous study and that this analgesic effect is comparable with 1 mg/kg of morphine sulfate in both the Formalin TEST & Tail Flick TEST. Chamomile as an analgesic should be studied more in different studies.
Vahidi A, Dashti M. A Comparison between the Analgesic Effect of Chamomile Extract and Morphine in Syrian Mice. J Ardabil Univ Med Sci 2007; 7 (4) :409-417 URL: http://jarums.arums.ac.ir/article-1-364-en.html