Evaluation of Anti-arthritic Activity of Dazzle Ointment - A Polyherbal Formulation

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic multi-system disease of unknown cause. It affects people in their prime of life, predominantly between the ages of 20-50 years with unpredictable course. Dazzle ointment is a polyherbal for-mulation, used for the treatment of inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis. Objective: The present study was planned to evaluate efficacy of Dazzle ointment using complete Freund’s adjuvant-induced arthritic model. Materials and Methods: The animals were divided into three groups of 6 animals each as CFA treated, standard drug and test drug treated groups. The animals were injected with 0.2 ml of complete Freund’s adjuvant into the sub-plantar surface of left hind paw. Drugs were administered topically, once a day, commenced on the day of injection of adjuvant and continued for 21 days. The assessment of the change in the inflammatory reaction was made by measuring the paw volume plethysmographically on 0, 4^th, 14^th, 17^th, 21^st day after injection of complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA). The statistical significance was assessed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Dunnet’s compari-son test. A p value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: It was observed that Dazzle ointment produced significant anti-arthritic effect on 21^st day. In CFA treated group, there was marked increase in the ESR and WBC count which was significantly decreased by test drug Dazzle ointment and standard drug diclofenac gel (Omni gel). Conclusion: The results indicate that Dazzle ointment possesses anti-arthritic activity in the experimental animal model.