Anti-acetylcholine and anti-histamine actions of the total alkaloids of Rauwolfia serpentina benth.

Abstract

Dasgupta, Ray, Roy and Werner1, Mukherjee2 and the present authors3 have made certain observations on the anti-adrenaline effect of extracts of Rauwolfia serpentina, but their effects on the action of acetyl-choline or of histamine have not yet been reported. Experiments have been carried out on isolated strips of guinea pig ileum in Dale's bath, containing oxygenated Ringer–Locke's solution at 35° C., and the modifications caused by varying concentrations (10−6 to 10−4 gm./ml.) of extracts of Rauwolfia serpentina (total alkaloids extracted in 2 per cent hydrochloric acid) on the action of acetylcholine (10−8 gm./ml.) or of histamine (10−8 to 10−7 gm./ml.) were studied. The extracts produced, by themselves, a definite but slight and transient contraction of the intestine. Dasgupta et al. 1 did not, however, find any stimulating effect on intestine in situ, whereas Chopra, Gupta and Mukherjee4 mention a stimulating property of the extract on such a preparation. (Dr. R. P. Banerjee, of the Indian Council for Medical Research, prepared extracts of Rauwolfia serpentina in three different concentrations of hydrochloric acid (namely, 2, 5 and 10 per cent) with the view of fractionating the different active principles. The results obtained with an extract in 2 per cent hydrochloric acid are described here; those with 5 and 10 per cent acid extracts are under investigation.)