Anti-inflammatory activity of in vitro regenerated calli and in vivo plant of Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.) Bertoni

Anti-inflammatory activities of methanolic extract of callus and intact plant part of Stevia rebaudiana(Bert.) Bertoni was studied for the first time. Acute inflammation model, carrageenan induced rat hind paw edema model was employed to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity. The methanolic extract from fresh callus cultures of Stevia rebaudianacultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium fortified with BAP (2.0 μM) and αNAA(1.0 μM) for 2 12 weeks was studied and compared with intact plant extract. Results from the anti-inflammatory activity testing indicated that the callus extract showed a less significant inhibition in the edema as compared to extract of intact plant. It was also revealed that there is an increase in the accumulation of secondary metabolites in callus cultures of sixth week of incubation. The methanolic extract of callus culture and intact plant part exhibited significant, dosedependent activity on the tested experimental animal models and produced a significant inhibition of carrageenaninduced paw edema in rat. The study suggests that the plant Stevia rebaudianais also a potent source for phytomedicine development in future.