Ouabain - A gift from paradise

An in-depth look into a well-known herbal drug: Fingerprinting, isolation, identification, and content estimation of saponins in different Strophanthus seeds

“…The traditional uses of Strophanthus seeds in heart conditions were presumably peroral [8][9][10]. Although the general (particularly the oral) use of Strophanthus preparations is currently marginalized by academic medicine [15,44,45], some scientific reports and papers describe the advantages of this therapy based on medical experience and practice [13,15,17,18,46]. In the past, the Strophanthus tincture (that, as demonstrated here, should contain saponins) was found to be more effective than isolated ouabain in an oral application [5].…”

Comment on: Endogenous Ouabain and Related Genes in the Translation from Hypertension to Renal Diseases, Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2018, 19, 1948

“…In World War I medical personnel in the German army, by order of the ambulance corps, exclusively used ouabain solutions to treat heart failure [5]. The therapeutic profile and the disease profiles for which the use of Strophanthus glycosides is appropriate are documented in many reports on clinical experiences and have been summarized in numerous reviews, mostly in the German literature [6]. As early as the first half of the 20th century distinguished scientists such as Albert Fraenkel, University of Heidelberg, and Ernst Edens, University of Dusseldorf, published monographs [7,8] that document in detail the clinical effects of Strophanthus glycosides.…”