major essential oil components, antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of hexane extract of vitexagnus- castus l. fruits and possible mechanism in male mice

vitexagnus- castus l. [vac.] has been used in the iranian traditional medicine for the treatment of pain and swelling of uterus. in this study, gc and gc/ms analyses  were carried out for the identification of essential oil chemical components. formalin and xylene-induced ear-edema were used in order to nociception and inflammation activity. then, the possible interaction between 3drugs including naloxone (2mg/kg), dextrometorphane(20mg/kg), and l-name (10mg/kg) have been used and  vitexagnus-castus hexane extract was examined. 1,8-cineole (23 %), alpha-pinene (16 %), beta- pinene (13 %), , z- caryophylene (11 %), alpha- terpinyl acetate (9 %), e- caryophylene (9 %) and linalool (6.5 %) were the major identified components of the essential oil of vitexagnus- castus l. hexane extract was reduced licking time as compared to the control group in the first and second phase of formalin test. in xylene-induced ear-edema, the hexane extract of vitexagnus- castus fruits was strongly inhibited inflammation as compared to the positive control group. interaction between l-name and vitexagnus-castus hexane extract showed significant effect. it was concluded that the anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects of the fruit of vitexagnus- ca stus l. may be due to its very pharmacological   effective   essential oil components. interaction between  l-name and vitexagnus-castus hexane extract showed that one of the possible pathways is no pathway, but vitexagnus-castus hexane extract probably acts via other pathways that need more research.