Scientific Basis for Use of Pyrus pashia Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don. Fruit in Gastrointestinal, Respiratory and Cardiovascular Ailments

Abstract

Background Pyrus pashia Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don. has been used conventionally by many communities in the Himalayan region for the management of gastrointestinal, respiratory, and vascular complications. Set against this background, this study was carried out to justify the scientific basis to validate folkloric uses of fruits of Pyrus pashia Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don. (Pp.Cr) in traditional systems of medicine.MethodsThe crude ethanol extract of fruits of Pyrus pashia Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don. (Pp.Cr) was tested in vitro on isolated rabbit jejunum, tracheal, and aorta preparations. The responses of tissues were recorded using isotonic transducers coupled with a PowerLab data acquisition system.ResultsThe Pp.Cr on application (0.01–5.0 mg/ml) to isolated rabbit jejunum preparation exhibited relaxation through decrease in magnitude and frequency of spontaneous contractions. The Pp.Cr also exerted a relaxant (0.01–5.0 mg/ml) effect on K+(80 mM) induced contractions in isolated rabbit jejunum preparations and caused shifting of the Ca2+ curves (1.0–3.0 mg/ml) toward right in a manner similar to that of verapamil (3μM), possibly suggesting presence of Ca2+ channel blocking activity. Subsequently, Pp.Cr in a concentration-dependent fashion (0.01–10.0 mg/ml) caused relaxation of CCh (1μM) and K+ (80 mM) induced contractions in isolated rabbit tracheal preparations in a manner comparable to that of dicyclomine, suggesting that the observed relaxant effect is likely to be mediated through antimuscarinic and/or Ca2+ channel blocking activities. Moreover, when evaluated against isolated rabbit aortic preparations, the Pp.Cr in concentrations up to 10 mg/ml exhibited a contractile response that was found to be abolished subsequent to pretreatment of isolated tissue preparation with cyproheptadine (1μM), phentolamine (1μM), and losartan (1μM), suggesting that Pp.Cr may have some α-adrenergic, muscarinic, serotonergic, and angiotensin II activities.ConclusionsThe aqueous ethanolic extract of Pyrus pashia (Pp.Cr) exhibited spasmolytic, bronchodilator, and vaso-constrictive activities possibly through different mechanisms. The spasmolytic and bronchodilator activities are likely to be mediated through blockade of Ca2+ channels, while vasoconstrictive activity may be due to presence of a α-adrenergic, muscarinic, serotonergic, and angiotensin II agonistic component.

Antispasmodic activity of <i>Symplocos paniculata</i> is mediated through opening of ATP-dependent K+ channel

“…Isolated tissues experiments were performed as described elsewhere (Janbaz et al, 2014;Janbaz et al, 2015a). The crude plant extract of S. paniculata was screened for possible presence of antispasmodic activities using isolated rabbit jejunum preparation.…”

Pharmacological basis for the medicinal use of <i>Viola odorata</i> in diarrhea, bronchial asthma and hypertension

“…The tissues were allowed to equilibrate for at least 30 min prior to the addition of any drug. Isolated rabbit jejunum preparations exhibit spontaneous rhythmic contractions and allowed testing of the antispasmodic (relaxant) effect without application of an agonist (Janbaz et al, 2015a;Saqib et al, 2012). The observed response of the test material was quantified by the application of doses in a cumulative fashion.…”

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“…The fruit juice is astringent and diuretic and is used to treat leishmaniasis, sore throat, abdominal pain, anemia and also used in the improvement of spleen. It also exhibited spasmolytic bronchodilator 7 . P. pashia is used for treating jaundice and liver disorders as per the ethnobotanical knowledge obtained from local herbal practitioners, though literature regarding the effect and use of this plant for treating liver diseases are not available.…”