Comparative Assessment of the Gastrointestinal Tolerability, Anti-inflammatory and Antipyretic Effects of Diclofenac, Ibuprofen and Nimesulide in White Albino Rats

Abstract

Aim: NSAIDs is among the commonly used drug in the management of disease conditions. The study carried out comparative assessment of gastric tolerability, antipyrectic and anti inflammatory effect of diclofenac, ibuprofen and nimesulide in rats. Methods: The rats were randomly divided into four groups (A, B, C and D) of six rats each. Group A served as the control, Group B was treated with Diclofenac at the dose of 3 mg/kg, Group C was treated with Ibuprofen at the dose of 11 mg/kg and Group D was treated with Nimesulide at the dose of 3 mg/kg. The antipyretic activity in yeast-induced fever, anti-inflammatory activity in formalin-induced edema and ulcer index in rats were examined. Results: All the drugs had significant decrease (P<0.05) effects on yeast-induced fever and formalin-induced edema in rats with nimesulide having more effect on fever and acute formalin-induced edema, high gastric tolerability but less effect on chronic modal of inflammation. However, diclofenac caused more gastric damage (P<0.05) among the drugs. Conclusion: Nimesulide could be the better NSAIDs for effective treatment of pyrexia, pain, and acute and chronic inflammation with less gastric damage followed by ibuprofen with moderate side effect.