Planta Med 2002; 68(11): 1047-1049
DOI: 10.1055/s-2002-35650
Letter
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Tracheospasmolytic Activity of Viteosin-A and Vitexicarpin Isolated from Vitex trifolia

Gemini Alam1 , Subagus Wahyuono2 , Ibnu G. Ganjar2 , Lukman Hakim2 , H. Timmerman3 , Rob Verpoorte4
  • 1Deptartment of Pharmacy, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia
  • 2Faculty of Pharmacy, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
  • 3Division of Pharmacochemistry, Leiden/Amsterdam Center for Drug Research, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • 4Division of Pharmacognosy, Leiden/Amsterdam Center for Drug Research, Leiden University, the Netherlands
Further Information

Publication History

Received: January 9, 2002

Accepted: July 13, 2002

Publication Date:
26 November 2002 (online)

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Abstract

The n-hexane extract that has shown activity in the tracheospasmolytic bioassay was fractionated by solvent extraction and from the major active fraction two compounds were isolated and identified as viteosin-A and vitexicarpin. These compounds blocked spontaneous contraction of isolated male guinea pig trachea induced by histamine; however only vitexicarpin was active in a model using sensitized guinea pig trachea stimulated by ovalbumin up to minimum dose of 1.3 × 10-5 M. The result suggests that vitexicarpin is able to block effects of histamine released from sensitized mast cells possibly by stabilizing the mast cells membrane function.