RESEARCH ARTICLE
Effect of Aqueous Extract of Giant Horsetail (Equisetum giganteum L.) in Antigen-Induced Arthritis
Mirian Farinon1, 4, Priscila Schmidt Lora1, 2, Leandro Nicolodi Francescato3, Valquiria Linck Bassani3, AmÉlia Teresinha Henriques3, Ricardo Machado Xavier1, 2, Patricia Gnieslaw de Oliveira*, 1, 2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 7
First Page: 129
Last Page: 133
Publisher ID: TORJ-7-129
DOI: 10.2174/1874312901307010129
Article History:
Received Date: 8/6/2013Revision Received Date: 7/9/2013
Acceptance Date: 9/9/2013
Electronic publication date: 30/12/2013
Collection year: 2013

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Equisetum giganteum is a plant used in traditional medicine as diuretic. From our knowledge this is the first time this plant is tested in an in vivo model of acute inflammation. To evaluate the effect of aqueous extract of giant horsetail (AEGH) as immunomodulatory therapy, antigen-induced arthritis (AIA) was generated in mice with methylated bovine serum albumin (mBSA). Inflammation was evaluated by articular nociception, leukocytes migration and lymphocyte proliferation. AEGH reduced nociception at 3, 6 and 24 h (P < 0.01), decreased leukocyte migration (P < 0.015), and inhibited lymphocyte proliferation stimulated with Concanavalin A and Lipopolysaccharide (P < 0.05). In conclusion, AEGH has an anti-inflammatory potential in acute model of inflammation, as well as immunomodulatory effect on both B and T lymphocytes, with an action independent of cytotoxicity.