Investigation of in vivo anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of rose hip powder (Rosa canina L.)

The standardized rose hip powder LitoMove® (Rosa canina L.) is a widely used herbal remedy. Consumption of LitoMove® has been shown to reduce pain in patients with osteoarthritis (1). The dichloromethane extract of LitoMove® possess in vitro immunomodulating effects which have been correlated to the presence of triterpene acids (2). To establish if the clinical effect of LitoMove® is caused by anti-inflammatory or analgesic effects, the dichloromethane extract was tested in the paw edema model of inflammation and the 1:1 methanol: dichloromethane extract in the hot plate test of acute pain. In both models, extracts were administered orally once daily in the indicated period. Treating rats with 100mg dry extract/kg for three weeks did not result in a significant reduction of the paw edema compared to the control group. In the hot plate test, mice were treated with 500mg dry extract/kg for five days. No significant difference in pain threshold between the treatment and the control group could be observed. It thus appears that the tested extracts neither possess anti-inflammatory nor analgesic effects in the chosen animal models. However, the paw edema model and the hot plate test are general models of inflammation and pain and thus, may not represent the inflammation and pain in arthritis. Therefore, further studies in specific animal models of arthritis inflammation and pain are needed before the clinical effects of LitoMove® can be understood.

Keywords: Rosa canina, arthritis, inflammation

Acknowledgement: HybenVital and the Danish Rheumatism Association are thanked for financial assistance.

References: 1. Christensen R et al. (2008) Osteoarthritis Cartilage 16: 965–972, 2. Saaby L et al. (2011) Phytother Res 195–201.