Exploring the Analgesic Potential of Homeopathic Formulation of Tincture Apis

Abstract

Apis is a homeopathic formulation developed from the venom of Apis mellifera. Apis is extensively used to treat various skin disorders, pleurisy, and peritonitis. The Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 firmly stated the high prominence of pain and pain-related diseases are the leading cause of disability and disease burden globally. The current investigation was aimed to explore the analgesic effect of homeopathic formulation tincture Apis using formalin induced flinching, acetic acid induced writhing and Eddy’s hot plate test. Tincture Apis pretreatment significantly reduced the number of flinching’s in both neurogenic and inflammatory phase in formalin test. Moreover, in Acetic acid and Eddy’s hot plate test, tincture Apis pre-treatment significantly reduced the acetic acid induced writhing’s and increased the paw licking latency, respectively. The effect of Apis was prominent to that observed with standard diclofenac in formalin and acetic acid test. Amino acid analysis revealed that tincture Apis contains 14 amino acids including seven essential amino acids. Furthermore, morphological studies revealed that administration of 10 times concentrated tincture Apis had no visible changes in acute toxicity screening such as change in skin color, salivation, convulsions, tremors, diarrhea, and paralysis or mortality in 14 day study. However, abnormal movement of body and eye were observed in the first 4 h. Overall outcome of present study revealed that tincture Apis has an excellent analgesic potential, which might be linked to the presence of essential amino acids including leucine, histidine, and GABA in tincture Apis.