There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
The leaf of Elaeagnus pungens thunb. (Family Elaeagnaceae) has been documented as
an effective herb for the treatment of asthma and chronic bronchitis in traditional
Chinese medicine. This study was aimed at evaluating the anti-asthmatic, antitussive
and expectorant activities in vivo of the ethanolic extract and fractions from the
leaf of Elaeagnus pungens. The results showed that the 70% ethanolic extract increased
the preconvulsive time of asthma induced by the combination of histamine and acetylcholine
chloride in guinea pigs at the medium dose of 1.379 g/kg. The water fraction significantly
prolonged the preconvulsive time (P<0.05) in guinea pigs, lengthened the latent period
of cough (P<0.05) as well as decreased the cough frequency caused by citric acid in
guinea pigs (P<0.01) and enhanced tracheal phenol red output in mice (P<0.01). Moreover,
the petroleum ether fraction significantly reduced the cough frequency induced in
guinea pigs (P<0.01) and improved tracheal phenol red output in mice (P<0.01). It
indicated that the petroleum ether fraction and the water fraction of Elaeagnus pungens
leaf were effective on anti-asthmatic, antitussive and expectorant activities, which
supplied for further research on chemical constituents and pharmacological mechanisms.