Impact of the Valepotriate active ingredient on inflammation and the response to pain stimuli in male rats

The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of Valepotriate (from Valeriana officinalis) on pain and inflammation in rats and to determine its possible analgesic and inflammatory mechanisms.

The present study was conducted with the objective of investigating the anti-inflammatory effect. To this end, 40 male rats were randomly divided into five groups. In the pain test, 56 male rats were randomly divided into seven groups (n=8 each). Inflammation test: 1- Normal saline group, 2- Xylene group, 3- Dexamethasone group, 4 and 5- Groups that received the active ingredient Valepotriate at doses of 0.2 and 0.1 mg/kg as a single dose for each animal. Pain test: 1- Saline group, 2- Formalin, 3- Morphine + Formalin group, 4-5- Valepotriate group (0.2 and 0.1 mg/kg) + Formalin, 6- Naloxone + Extract group (0.2 mg/kg) + Formalin, 7- Naloxone+ Morphine + Formalin group

The results showed a significant decrease in pain response time at 0.2 doses of Valepotriate in acute and chronic pain phases compared to Formalin (P<0.001). Valepotriate active ingredient also exerted its inhibitory effect on xylene-induced inflammation, with the best inhibition percentage observed for 0.2 mg/kg dose and dexamethasone with extract at 0.2 mg/kg (P<0.01).

According to the results, Valepotriate has a relatively strong analgesic effect. It is likely that the mechanism of analgesic action of the extract is at least relatively similar to that of morphine based on opioid receptors. In the inflammation test, the extract was able to inhibit inflammation in a way similar to dexamethasone.