Anesthetic Potential of Desert Rose (Adenium obesum) Stems Extract on Swiss Mice (Mus musculus)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Anesthesia is defined as a temporary loss of sensation induced for medical purposes. Pain, as a response to strong stimuli received by the body receptors during medical procedures, is basically the main sensation being addressed by anesthetics. This research wants to determine if pain, as an unwanted feeling that affects daily functions, could be addressed with plants with anesthetic potentials. Desert rose or Kalachuchi has a number of accounts proving its medicinal ability. Thus, this research is initiated to provide an alternative source for anesthetics.

METHODS

The research was scientific-experimental. It followed a complete randomized design having four experimental set-ups with different concentrations. Each set-up underwent three trials of treatment. The subjects of the study were stem extracts of the desert rose and Swiss mice as the test organism. Active components of the extract were determined. The subjects were acclimatized and fed with the usual diet. The mice were injected with the extract of different concentrations and the data on the onset and length of the effect of the anesthetic were collected. in order to determine the ability and the significant difference, appropriate statistical tools were used.

RESULTS

The ten percent concentration showed the shortest onset of effect and longest length of effect with 0 minutes and 1.95 minutes respectively. It was followed by seven percent and lastly five percent. The onset of effect of the desert rose stem extracts on Swiss mice obtained a p-value of 0.057 which is greater than the 0.05 level of significance. Thus, the null hypothesis is accepted with a verbal interpretation of not significant. For the length of the effect of the desert rose extracts on Swiss mice, it obtained a p-value of 0.000 lesser than the level of significance of 0.05. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected with a verbal interpretation of significant.

DISCUSSIONS

The study focuses on the anesthetic potential of the desert rose stems extract on Swiss mice. It can be gleaned that the ten percent concentration is the most effective across all concentrations for having the shortest onset and longest length of effect. However, the extract of the stem didn't show a significant difference in terms of the onset of effect, implying that the percentage of the concentrations did not affect the time of onset of effect. Although, it did show a significant difference in terms of length of effect compared to the negative control. Therefore, the extract of the stem has anesthetic potential.