Background: Terminalia arjuna Roxb. (family Combretaceae) is commonly known as ‘Sa maw thet’ in Thai. The fruit is used in traditional medicine as natural mild laxatives, carminative and expectorant.
Objective: This research aims to study the anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic activities of Terminalia arjuna extract by using animal models in comparison to the reference drugs.
Material and Method: The anti-inflammatory study was conducted by 2 experimental animal models namely ethyl phenylpropiolate (EPP)-induced ear edema and carrageenan-induced paw edema. The study of analgesic activity used 2 methods of pain induction including acetic acid and heat induced pain. In addition, the antipyretic activity study was performed by induced hyperthermia with yeast.
Results: The results showed that the oral administration of Terminalia arjuna extract possessed acute anti-inflammatory effect in carrageenan-induced paw edema. Terminalia arjuna extract showed the analgesic activity in acetic acid-induced writhing response and heat-induced pain. This indicated its peripheral effect by inhibiting the biosynthesis and/or release of some pain mediators and some mechanism through central nervous system. Moreover, Terminalia sp. extract at the dose of 1000 and 1500 mg/kg body weight showed the antipyretic activity, The effect could be due to the inhibition of prostaglandins synthesis.
Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that the Terminalia arjuna extract possesses the anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic activities in animals.

Keywords: Terminalia arjuna extract, anti-inflammatory activity, analgesic activity, antipyretic activity