The flowers of Carthamus tinctorius were collected from different regions of Rampachodavaram, Maredumalli and Jaddanki forest of East Godavari region of Andhra Pradesh. The plant has been identified and approved by taxonomist Dr. T. Raghuram, Maharani College, Peddapuram.

The flowers were dried under shade for 3 weeks and pulverized to course crude powder and stored in a tight container. The required amount of coarse powder was subjected to Soxhlet Extractor for continuous hot extraction with ethanol for 8 to 10 hours. Then the extract was filtered, and the filtrate was evaporated to dryness.

Chemicals used are of Analytical grade with standard Glassware.

The FTIR Spectra of the ethanolic flower extract of Carthamus tinctorius was taken with “Bruker FTIR Spectrophotometer” and the spectra was recorded in the region of 3000 cm^-1 to 720 cm^-1. The spectral data of the flower extract was presented in the Table 1.

These peaks suggest the presence of unsaturated fatty acids (from the C=C and C-H bonds) and ester groups (from triglycerides). The strong carbonyl (C=O) absorption around 1744 cm^-1 confirms the ester linkage in the triglyceride structure.

Albino mice of either sex weighing 20-25 grams and Albino rats weighing 120-150 grams of either sex was used for carrying different activities. The animals were housed in standard polypropylene cages and kept under room temperature at 28°C relative humidity of 70 % in light/dark cycle and accessed to food and water ad libitum. The animal experimental procedure was approved by Institutional Animal Ethical Committee.

Acetic acid triggered the analgesic mechanism of abdominal writhing in the visceral pain model, which primarily involves the release of arachidonic acid through cyclooxygenase and prostaglandin production. ¹⁷ At doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg, the ethanolic floral extract of Carthamus tinctorius markedly reduced the mice’s acetic acid- induced writhing response. The standard drug Diclofenac sodium (10 mg/kg) demonstrated 88% protection against acetic acid-induced writhing in mice, the flower extract has shown notable analgesic effect by 72% reduction of nociception at a dose of 200 mg/kg and 83% inhibition at 400 mg/kg. The findings were tabulated in Figure 2 and Table 2.

Figure 2

Inflammation is a complex pathophysiological response that involves the activity of inflammatory mediators such as neutrophils, reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO), Prostaglandins (PG’s) and Cytokines ¹⁸. The standard methodology carrageenan induced rat paw edema is adopted for screening of anti-inflammatory activity ¹⁹. Inflammatory responses induce innate immune response by activating T-cells and Macrophages and stimulating the secretion of inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α is the major mediator 20. In the pathogenesis of inflammatory disorders significant correlations exert between cytokine production, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein expression and Prostaglandin synthesis in the rat paw tissues where edema was involved by carrageenan intra-plantar injection. 21 Ethanolic flower extract of Carthamus tinctorius at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg significantly inhibited the protein expression of COX-2 levels in the rat edema paw tissues by 48 % and 55 % compared with the standard drug Diclofenac sodium 10 mg/kg produced 69 % of inhibition of edema. The results were tabulated in Table 3 and Figure 3.

Figure 3

Table 4

S.No	Treated Group	Rectal temperature (°C) after Yeast induction
		0 Hour	1st Hour	2nd Hour	3rd Hour	4th Hour	5th Hour
1	Control	38.25±0.04	39.33±0.20	39.40±0.13	39.35±0.20	39.28±0.30	39.31±0.05
2	Std- Paracetamol (100 mg/kg)	38.50±0.05	38.45±0.80 30	37.85±0.50 40	37.43±0.30 50	3.681±0.2 70	3.650±0.01 80
3	Extract of Carthamus tinctorius (200 mg/kg)	38.38±0.30	39.15±0.05 10	38.83±0.20 20	38.50±0.40 30	37.79±0.20 40	37.55±0.06 50
4	Extract of Carthamus tinctorius (400 mg/kg)	38.45±0.15	39.05±0.02 20	38.25±0.04 30	37.95±0.04 40	37.15±0.02 60	36.6±0.02 70

All values are expressed in Mean ± SEM, n=3.

Figure 4 Figure 5

Fever could potentially be caused by an infection or one of the consequences of tissue damage 22. The mindful balance between heat production and loss is necessary for controlling body temperature. The hypothalamus is in charge of controlling body temperature. The ethanolic flower extract of Carthamus tinctorius showed notable antipyretic properties, as it significantly decreased the animals increased body temperature caused by Brewer’s yeast. The reduction of body temperature at a dose of 200 mg/kg exhibited 50% reduction and 70% reduction of elevated body temperature at 400 mg/kg compared with the standard reference drug Paracetamol (100 mg/kg) which produced 80% of reduction. The results were tabulated in Table 4 and Figure 4, Figure 5.