Feverfew and vascular smooth muscle: extracts from fresh and dried plants show opposing pharmacological profiles, dependent upon sesquiterpene lactone content

Planta medica
R W BarsbyJ R Hoult

Abstract

Preparations of fresh or dried feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium) are widely consumed in the U.K. as a remedy for arthritis and migraine, but the pharmacological basis for this has not been established. We have, therefore, compared the properties of extracts of fresh plants with those of dried powdered leaves available commercially from health food shops. The two extracts differed radically in their content of alpha-methylbutyrolactones and in their pharmacological profile when tested in vitro on the rabbit aortic ring and rat anococcygeus preparations. Extracts of fresh leaves caused does- and time-dependent inhibition of the contractile responses of aortic rings to all receptor-acting agonists so far tested; the effects were irreversible and may represent a toxic modification of post-receptor contractile function in the smooth muscle. The presence of potentially -SH reactive parthenolide and other sesquiterpene alphamethylenebutyrolactones in these extracts, and the close parallelism of the actions of pure parthenolide, suggest that the inhibitory effects are due to these compounds. In contrast , chloroform extracts of dried powdered leaves were not inhibitory but themselves elicited potent and sustained contractions of aort...Continue Reading

Citations

Mar 30, 2002·Journal of the American College of Cardiology·Georgianne Valli, Elsa Grace V Giardina
Dec 1, 1994·Clinical and Experimental Allergy : Journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology·R D ButcherD W Griffiths
Mar 1, 2011·Headache·Frederick R Taylor
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Sep 11, 2012·Acupuncture in Medicine : Journal of the British Medical Acupuncture Society·Eliane Cristina FerroJosie Resende Torres Silva
Feb 13, 2019·Holistic Nursing Practice·Stephanie Maxine Ross
Nov 19, 2011·Pharmacognosy Reviews·Anil PareekVijay Bansal

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