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

The 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 present study provided the scientific justification about the antipyretic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of the essential oils and methanolic extract from A. malaccensis, thus validating its use in traditional folk medicines and hence supporting the development in the pharmacological properties of bioactive natural substances.