Biol. Pharm. Bull. 29(5) 971—975 (2006)

vacious plant distributed across all of Korea and also cultivated in China. The root of Cynanchum paniculatum is used as a Chinese traditional medicine. Recently, the plants of genus Cynanchum of Asclepiadaceae, e.g. Cynanchum atratum, Cynanchum auriculatum and Cynanchum paniculatum, were studied for their anticancer and analgesic effects. In addition, Cynanchum paniculatum has been traditionally used for gastritis and relieving pain in China. In traditional medicine, the dried root of Cynanchum paniculatum relieves rheumatic arthralgia, lumbago, pain due to traumatic injuries, abdominal pain, toothache, and other kinds of pain, as well as skin diseases such as eczema, rubella, neurodermatitis and snake bite. A number of chemical constituents such as cynapanosides A, B, and C, paeonol, and antopine have been identified from Cynanchum paniculatum, of which paeonol had been found to have analgesic effects in mice. These studies concentrated on its analgesic and anticancer effects, without investigating its anti-inflammatory effect. Therefore, the present study employed NSAIDs; indomethacin, which is a non-selective cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitor, and phenidone, which is a dual blocker of COX and lipoxygenase (LOX), to compare the anti-inflammatory effects with EACP. Pentobarbital sodium was used to study the sedative effect. The present study was undertaken to further elucidate the anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive effects of Cynanchum paniculatum, using the ethyl acetate (EtOAc)soluble portion of the 70% methanol extract of its roots.