ABSTRACT:
Inflammation is the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or imitants. Carissa carandas Linn, (karanda) family Apocynaceae is widely used medicinal plant by tribal throughout India. It is used as edible fruit and is constituent of many herbal products. All parts of plants are used in traditional medicine. The scientific evaluation of fruit is still untouched. This work presents the detailed study on pharmacological evaluation of Carissa carandas fruit for its anti-inflammatory activity. All the different stages of maturation of fruit i.e. immature, mature and ripe fruit of Carissa carandas was used for study. Dried fruit powder of immature, mature and ripe fruits was subjected to soxhlet extraction with various solvents such as n-hexane, chloroform, acetone and hydroalcohol. The comparative phytochemical evaluation and quantitative estimation of all the extracts were studied. Extract mainly contained flavonoids, Vitamin C and steroids. Activity of acetone extract of all stages of maturation was carried out by carrageenan induced rat paw edema method. The result suggested that mature fruits showed highest activity.