Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Chrysin (5,7-Dihydroxyflavone) in Freund's Complete Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis in Rats

Abstract

Background: Inflammation is a key pathological process underlying arthritis and contributes to progressive damage to the joints, cartilage, and surrounding tissues. Persistent inflammatory responses are associated with infiltration of inflamma-tory cells, pannus formation, cartilage degradation, and bone erosion, ultimately leading to impaired joint function. Chrysin (5,7-dihydroxyflavone) is a naturally occurring flavonoid found in various plants, honey, and propolis. It possesses several pharmacological properties, particularly anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, which may help attenuate inflamma-tory tissue damage. Therefore, the present study was designed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of chrysin in an experimentally induced arthritic rat model using histopathological assessment of joint tissues.Methodology: This study determined the healing effect of Chrysin in a FCA-induced arthritic rat model. Chrysin was inject-ed intraperitoneally on the 8th post-administration day of FCA, and treatment continued for the next three consecutive weeks. GraphPad Prism was used to analyse the results, considering p-values ≤ 0.05 statistically significant. Results: Anti-inflammatory effect of Chrysin upon bones and cartilage was determined by Ankle joint histopathology. Upon histopathology, Chrysin reduced the severity of arthritis in the joint, infiltration of inflammatory cells, subcutaneous in-flammation, cartilage erosion, bone erosion and pannus formation. Piroxicam was used as a reference drug to compare the anti-arthritic effect of Chrysin.Conclusion: Results showed that Chrysin possesses anti-arthritic effects and may be a potential drug for the treatment of arthritis.