Background and Objective: Pain is a significant global healthcare problem, usually resulting from either medical procedure, injury, or illness. It can be chronic or acute. In this study, the analgesic effect of the ethanol extract of Euphorbia hirta and Ziziphus spina-christi at different concentrations in Wistar albino mice was determined. In addition, the phytochemical composition of the extracts was studied in the laboratory.
Materials and Methods: Ethanol extracts of Euphorbia hirta and Ziziphus spina-christi at concentrations of 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg were administered to mice, and the results were compared with negative (10 ml/kg distilled water) and positive (30 mg/kg paracetamol) controls using hot plate method. The experiments were done by 24 mice for lethal dose (LD₅₀) study, and 24 mice for the main study. The administration was done via oral route, and the mice were placed on hot plate after every 30 min of administration (six mice in each group).
Result and Conclusion: The plants contained tannins, flavonoids, carbohydrates, anthraquinone, saponins, and alkaloids, but triterpenoids were not detected. No acute toxicity or mortality was found in each group after 24 h administration of 10, 100, 1000, 1600, 2900, and 5000 mg/kg body weight of the extracts. The plants had lethal dose (LD₅₀) of ≥ 5000 mg/kg, and Euphorbia hirta had more significant analgesic effects than Ziziphus spina-christi. After administration, the mice were be placed immediately on a hot plate to observe how many minutes they will jump off the hot plate due to the heat. The highest extended mean time reaction for Euphorbia hirta was at the 30^th min at a dose of 1000 mg/kg (3.97 ±0.27 min), while that of Ziziphus spina-christi was at the 90^th min at a dose of 1000 mg/kg (2.22 ±0.41 min). We conclude that both extracts are potent candidate as natural analgesic agent in pain alleviation. However, more toxicological studies are required.