Herbal Alternatives for Pain Relief: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Violet Flower Oil and Bitter Almond Oil Compared to Diclofenac Gel in Animal Models

Reza  Kazemi; Mahdi  Mashhadi Akbar Boojar; Gholamreza  Poorheidari; Seyed Mohammad  Zarei; Mehdi  Saberi

doi:10.18502/jimc.v9i2.21186

Reza Kazemi Student Research Committee, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mahdi Mashhadi Akbar Boojar Student Research Committee, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Gholamreza Poorheidari Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Seyed Mohammad Zarei Department of Pharmacognosy and Traditional Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mehdi Saberi Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jimc.v9i2.21186

Keywords: Analgesics, Diclofenac, Flowers, Inflammation, Non-steroidal anti-Inflammatory agents, Oils, Prunus dulcis, Viola

Abstract

Background: Inflammatory and local pains are common issues. People often use Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) like diclofenac or herbal products for relief, and some studies suggest that herbal oils may work better than NSAIDs. This study compared the pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects of Violet Flower (Viola odorata) Oil (VFO) and Bitter Almond (Prunus amygdalus) Oil (BAO) with diclofenac gel in animal models.

Methods: Tail-flick, hot-plate, and formalin tests were used to compare the local analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of studied herbal oils and diclofenac. The experiments were performed in 6 groups (N=8), including the control, paraffin, diclofenac, VFO, BAO, and VFO+BAO. Each experiment’s data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA.

Results: In the tail-flick test, 30 min after administrating the studied agents, the latency of all groups receiving diclofenac, VFO, BAO, and VFO+BAO was significantly increased (p<0.05). 60 min after administration, in diclofenac, VFO, and BAO, and after 120 min in VFO and BAO groups, pain latency elevated significantly. The results of the hot-plate test for BAO were somewhat similar to the tail-flick test, but VFO could not significantly increase the latency. In the inflammatory phase of formalin fest, all four groups that received diclofenac, VFO, BAO, and VFO+BAO reduced the grooming time (p<0.001).

Conclusion: This study found that BAO works similarly to diclofenac gel. BAO takes longer to start working but lasts longer than diclofenac. Both VFO and BAO show good pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects, indicating they could be effective alternatives to traditional NSAIDs for managing pain and inflammation.