ABSTRACT
Ant from ancient times were used as therapeutics and contains in them a myriad of medicinal uses. In the past, people sourced for insects for the treatment of human diseases like gout and rheumatoid arthritis as well as whooping cough, discomfort, and edema. Natural. .products from. medicinal. ants, either. as. pure. compounds. or. as. standardize.d extracts, provide. unlimited. opportunities. for. new. drug. leads. because. of. the. unmatched. availability. of. chemical. diversity. To this end, this. study. is. aimed. at. the. extraction, isolation. and. characterization and the determination of the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of methanol extract of the African weaver ant, Oecophylla longinoda (OL). Three hundred and fifty-nine gramme (359g) of the Weaver ant were crushed in a mortar and extracted using methanol in a Soxhlet extractor and concentrated in a rotary evaporator at 50°C. Bioactive chemical constituents were determined according to standard methods, analgesic activity was determined by formalin-induced pain method in mice while anti-inflammatory activity was assessed by dextran, carrageenan, and formaldehyde procedures. Alkaloids, glycosides, terpenoids, phenolic and Flavonoids were present in OL. For the analgesic test, OL exhibited significant. analgesic. activity. in. all. the models; acetic acid, hot plate and formalin models. The 400 mg/kg extract in the acetic acid-induced writhing response at a percentage inhibition of 52.7%, OL significantly reduced pain response in mice, with a p-value of 0.03, 0.02, and 0.001 respectively. Pretreatment with OL significantly and dose-dependently decreased the early and late phases of formalin-induced pain in mice, suggesting that the methanolic extract of OL acts on central and peripheral pain pathways. The results for the anti-inflammatory test using dextran, carrageenan, and formaldehyde to induce edema, revealed that OL inhibited inflammation, suggesting that OL has a positive. effect.. on.. acute.. and.. chronic.. inflammation., with. the.. mechanism.. potentially. mediated.. by.. suppressing. inflammationrelated. gene.. expression.. and.. downregulating.. inflammatory.. mediators.. OL extracts showed no weight changes in organs or negative effects on mice, and their serum biochemical parameters, suggesting it's safe for long-term use. It is therefore recommended further research should explore microwave extraction & identify molecular targets for better pain/inflammation treatments.
