The effect of age, season and growth conditions on anti-inflammatory activity in Eucomis autumnalis (Mill.) Chitt. Plant extracts

Eucomis (Family Hyacinthaceae) bulbs are greatly valued in traditionalmedicine for the treatment of a variety of ailments, predominantly thoseinvolving pain, fever and inflammation. The COX-1 assay was used to screenethanolic extracts prepared from the dried leaves, bulbs and roots of E. autumnalis (subspecies autumnalis) to determine the variation ofanti-inflammatory activity with age and season of harvest. Young plantswere found to have large amounts of COX-1 inhibitory activity, particularlyin the leaves. As the plant matured, greater activity was associated with thebulb and root extracts. The anti-inflammatory activity of the leaf, bulb androot extracts varied slightly throughout the year, with the greatest levelsdetected towards the end of the growing season, shortly before the onsetof dormancy. A seaweed application (Kelpak) decreased the anti-inflammatory activity of the leaf, bulb and root extracts, while increasedtemperature/increased light intensity had no significant effect on theCOX-1 inhibitory activity of the leaf extracts. The bulb extracts fromtreated plants harvested towards the end of the growing season showed asignificant decrease in anti-inflammatory activity, while the anti-inflammatory activity of the corresponding not root extracts increased.