Antihistaminic and anticholinergic activity of barberry fruit ( Berberis vulgaris) in the guinea-pig ileum

• Published in: Journal of ethnopharmacology Vol. 64; no. 2; pp. 161 - 166
• Main Authors: Shamsa, F, Ahmadiani, A, Khosrokhavar, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01-02-1999; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Anticholinergic; Antihistaminic; Barberry; Biological and medical sciences; Cholinergic Antagonists - pharmacology; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Fruit - chemistry; General pharmacology; Guinea Pigs; Guinea-pig ileum; Histamine H1 Antagonists - pharmacology; Ileum - drug effects; Ileum - metabolism; Magnoliopsida - chemistry; Medical sciences; medicinal plants; Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Plants, Medicinal; traditional medicine; Iran; Asia; Guinea-pig ileum; Anticholinergic; Barberry; Antihistaminic; Fruit; Pharmacognosy; Rodentia; Berberis vulgaris; Smooth muscle; Extract; Ileum; In vitro; Biological activity; Medicinal plant; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Guinea pig; Folk medicine; Dicotyledones; Animal; Angiospermae; Plant origin; Spermatophyta; Acetylcholine; Antagonist; Berberidaceae
• ISSN: 0378-8741; 1872-7573
• DOI: 10.1016/S0378-8741(98)00122-6

Barberry
(Berberis vulgaris) is a well known medicinal plant in Iran and has also been used as food. The antihistaminic and anticholinergic activity of aqueous extract of barberry fruits were investigated on isolated guinea-pig ileum, and dose–response curves of histamine and acetylcholine with and without extract were plotted. The p
A
2 values for antihistaminic activity of extract and dexchlorpheniramine were calculated (extract; p
A
2±S.E.M.=4.50±0.01[−log
C (g/l)]; dexchlorpheniramine; p
A
2±S.E.M.=9.36±0.14[−log
C (M)]) and compared with each other. The p
A
2 values for anticholinergic activity of extract and atropine were also calculated (extract, p
A
2±S.E.M.=4.37±0.03[−log
C (g/l)]; atropine, p
A
2± S.E.M.=8.99±0.13[−log
C (M)]) and compared. The results indicated antihistaminic and anticholinergic activity of extract that seems to be of the competitive type.