title: Antitussive Activity of the Water-Extracted Carbohydrate Polymer from Terminalia chebula on Citric Acid-Induced Cough.
abstract: Terminalia chebula, a medicinal plant, is widely used in the management of various diseases. As the water extract of its dried ripe fruit is a frequently used preparation, we decided to look for bioactive polysaccharide in this extract. We demonstrate that the obtained polysaccharide fraction, CP, contained a highly branched arabinogalactan protein having a (1 → 3)-, (1 → 6)- and (1 → 3, 6)-linked β -D-Galp together with (1 → 5)- and (1 → 3)-linked α -L-Araf and nonreducing end units of α -L-Araf. This polymer possesses strong antitussive property. Our results showed that the number of citric acid-induced cough efforts decreased significantly after the oral application of polysaccharide fraction in a dose of 50 mg kg(-1) body weight. Its antitussive efficacy was higher than cough suppressive effect of standard drug codeine. Therefore, traditional aqueous extraction method provides a major polysaccharide, which induces a pharmacological effect: this could represent an attractive approach in phytotherapeutic managements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Sklabinska 26, 036 01 Martin, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nosalova
authors.forename: Ludovit
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jurecek
authors.forename: Udipta Ranjan
authors.initials: UR
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
authors.forename: Sujay Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Majee
authors.forename: Slavomir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nosal
authors.forename: Bimalendu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ray