Gut modulatory and antiplatelet activities of Viscum cruciatum

Anwarul Hassan Gilani, Malik Hassan Mehmood, Khalid Hussain Janbaz, Arif Ullah Khan, Sheikh Arshad Saeed

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Viscum cruciatum Sieber (Viscaceae) is widely used in folk medicine for various gastrointestinal and inflammatory disorders. The crude extract of Viscum cruciatum (VCr), which tested positive for alkaloids, flavonoids, coumarins, saponins, sterols, tannins, and terpenes, caused concentration-dependent (0.01-3.0mg/mL) relaxation of spontaneous and K+ (80mM)-induced contractions of isolated rabbit jejunum, similar to that caused by verapamil. VCr shifted the Ca2+ concentrationresponse curves to the right with suppression of the maximum response, like verapamil. In guinea-pig ileum preparations, VCr caused atropine-sensitive spasmogenic effects. When tested for its effect on human platelets, VCr inhibited the adrenaline and adenosine 5′-diphosphate (ADP)-induced human platelet aggregation at the concentration range of 0.31.2mg/mL. These observations indicate the presence of spasmogenic, spasmolytic, and antiplatelet activities in Viscum cruciatum mediated through cholinergic and calcium channel antagonist activities along with the blockade of adrenergic and ADP receptors, respectively, which explains its medicinal use in gut motility and inflammatory disorders.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)955-961
Number of pages7
JournalPharmaceutical Biology
Volume47
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2009
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Antiplatelet
  • Antispasmodic
  • Ca2+ channel antagonist
  • Spasmogenic
  • Viscum cruciatum

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