Determination of Analgesic Activity of Levofloxacin in Adult Male Albino Rats

This chapter evaluate the analgesic activity of Levofloxacin in male albino rats. Levofloxacin (LFX) is a broad spectrum fluoroquinolone antibiotic used in the treatment of infections such as pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, and sinusitis. It is a chosen drug with better efficacy in the treatment of typhoid fever especially when compared with other members of the same family such as ciprofloxacin.

The animal study a cross sectional, observational study, conducted in Institute of Pharmacology, Madurai Medical college, Madurai, India. Thirty adult albino rats weighing 150-250 gm were obtained from central animal house. The animals were divided into five groups of six animals each. Using Eddy's hot plate and tail flick techniques, the analgesic impact of levofloxacin was assessed and contrasted with that of aspirin, a common analgesic. Statistical analysis of difference between groups were carried out using one-way analysis of variance using SPSS version 20.

Findings from our study demonstrated that Levofloxacin prolonged the reaction time both in tail-flick and in the hot plate method. Levofloxacin at 40 mg/kg dose showed a higher antinociceptive activity compared to aspirin at 90 min and 120 min in rats which indicates that it has a persistent analgesic action that might be explained due to its long duration of action. Comparing levofloxacin to the control and standard groups, it has demonstrated encouraging analgesic effects. It might be a promising novel molecule to find adjuvant analgesics. Since the data from animals cannot be immediately applied to humans, more research is required to validate these findings in humans.