Antinociceptive is reducing sensitivity to painful stimuli for the individual. The
objective of this study was to evaluate the antinociceptive potentials of graded doses of
Pleurotus ostreatus
(Oyster Mushroom) aqueous extract in
Rattus norvegicus
(Albino Rats) and its chemical
pattern by comparing it with a standard drug and a control using the hot water based flick tail test.
Thirty five adult rats of both sexes were used for the experiment which, were divided into five
groups of seven rats per group. Group one was used as the control (with 1ml normal saline), while
groups two, three and four were treated with 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg of
Pleurotus ostreatus ostreatus
aqueous extracts and group five treated with 15 mg/kg Aspirin (a standard drug) as positive
control. Hot water at 55
0C was used to determine the nociceptive responses of the animals to
detect anti-nociceptive effects of
Pleurotus ostreatus extracts as compared to the control in hot
water inflicted pain. The results suggested that
Pleurotus ostreatus ostreatus aqueous extract exhibits antinociceptive
properties against thermal stimulus at 55
0C. The diversity of individual animals’ pain
tolerance threshold when immersed in hot water was also observed during the experiment.
However, the extract indicated a high degree of anti-nociceptive effect at 30, 60, 90 and 120
minutes post treatment period, with a progressively longer threshold time for pain sensitivity. It
was also found that at 90 minute period, the control portrayed a relatively short response time.
