Abstract

The use of plants for healing purposes predates human history and forms the origin of muchmodern medicine. Many conventional drugs originate from plant sources, a century ago, mostof the few effective drugs were plant based. Adiantum capillus has long held a place in herbalmedicine systems worldwide. It is prepared traditionally as an infusion for the treatment ofrespiratory and urinary disorders. The pharmacological activities of A. capillus infusion wereevaluated in this study. The result obtained on the rabbit jejunum and bronchial smoothmuscle indicated that A. capillus extract has attenuated the response to histamine, suggestingantihistaminergic mechanism in the observed effect. The extract showed no significant effecton the contraction of the jejunum and bronchial smooth muscle induced by pilocarpine.Therefore the antihistamine effect of the extract was not associated with antimuscarinicactivity. A. capillus has produced a significant increase in the urine flow and urinary Na+ andK+ excretion rate in rabbits. This effect of A. capillus act at site before the distal nephron.The infusion of the plant produced a non significant slight reduction in the blood pressurewithout affecting the heart rate of the rabbit. The hypoglycemic effect of A. capillus extractwas studied in alloxan-diabetic rabbits. The extract induced a significant hypoglycemic effectafter oral administration which had similar efficacy to the hypoglycemic effects ofmetformin. The maximal rate of decline in blood glucose concentrations response wasobserved on the sixth day of the procedure.

The article was added to IASJ on 2012-07-12

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