Abstract
<p><em>Abies pindrow</em> is widely used in traditional practice for the treatment of diarrhea and bronchitis and the present study was designed to validate its folkloric uses. The crude extract of <em>A. pindrow</em> inhibit spontaneously contracting (1-10 mg/mL) and high K<sup>+</sup> (80 mM)-induced pre-contracted rabbit jejun-um (3 mg/mL) in concentration dependent manner. A rightward shift in Ca<sup>+2</sup> concentration response curves was seen in the presence of crude extract (0.1-0.3), similar to verapamil. In isolated tracheal tissue, <em>A. pindrow</em> inhibited, high K<sup>+</sup> and carbachol (1 µM)-induced contractions, at 3 mg/mL and 10 mg/mL respectively, similar to that caused by verapamil. These results indicate the presence of calcium channels blocked activity in crude extract of <em>A. pindrow</em>, which provide sound basis for medicinal uses of<em> A. pindrow</em> in diarrhea and bronchitis. </p><p> </p>
Highlights
Abies pindrow Royle (Pinaceae), commonly known as “West Himalayan Fir”, is found mainly in Himalayas deciduous forests from Afghanistan to Nepal and all over the Western Himalaya (Asolkar et al, 1992)
A concentration (0.01-10 mg/mL) dependent spasmolytic effect of crude extract was observed in isolated rabbit jejunum (Figure 1A), similar to verapamil (0.01-3 μM) with EC50 value of 1.2 mg/mL and 0.6 μM (0.3-1.3, n=5)
As per its folkloric repute in GIT and airways disorders (Khare, 2007), the crude extract of A. pindrow was pharmacologically investigated on isolated tissue preparations to authenticate its medicinal uses and
Summary
Abies pindrow Royle (Pinaceae), commonly known as “West Himalayan Fir”, is found mainly in Himalayas deciduous forests from Afghanistan to Nepal and all over the Western Himalaya (Asolkar et al, 1992). The plant has been used traditionally as expectorant, bronchial sedative, decongestant, anticatarrhal, antiseptic, antispasmodic and carminative (Khare, 2007). It has bronchodilator, headache relieving and antiperiodic activity (Chopra et al, 1956). Leaf contains bioflavonoids, flavornoids, pindrolactone, pentacyclic triterpenoids, phenolic compounds, pinitol and carbohydrates. It contain saturated and unsaturated fatty acids with isopalmitic acid as the most prominent saturated fatty acid and oleic acid as the principal unsaturated acid and someother important hydrocarbons includes 1-octadecene and 1-docosene (Majeed et al, 2013). The present study on the crude extract of A. pindrow was conducted to validate these traditional uses and to explore mechanistic basis for these medicinal uses
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