NIS - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

WHO monographs on medicinal plants commonly used in the Newly Independent States (NIS)
Medicinal uses
Uses supported by clinical data
An open clinical trial has indicated a possible diuretic effect (40).
Uses described in pharmacopoeias and well-established documents
Used internally for kidney and bladder diseases, oedema and as an adjuvant
in slimming diets (41). It is applied as irrigation therapy for infectious
and inflammatory diseases of the genitourinary tract, and kidney
stones (12, 23, 42). Used externally as supportive treatment for slowhealing
wounds (43).
Uses described in traditional medicine
Symptomatic treatment of chronic swelling of the legs, slow-healing
sprains and fractures, irritable skin conditions, gout, rheumatism, arthritis,
hepatitis, fractures, sore throat, dermatological problems and haemorrhoids
(44–47). In folk medicine Herba Equiseti is used as an analgesic,
antihypertensive, clotting agent, haemostatic, depurative, astringent, diuretic
and anti-inflammatory (48–50). In Indian Ayurvedic medicine it is
used for the treatment of inflammation or benign enlargement of the
prostate gland, for urinary incontinence and for enuresis in children (51).
Pharmacology
Experimental pharmacology
Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activity
An aqueous-ethanol extract of the stems of Equisetum arvense at concentrations
of 10, 25, 50 and 100 µg/g, administered intraperitoneally, reduced
the writhing induced in mice by acetic acid (49, 57, 93 and 98%, respectively).
The results of treatment with the extract were positive but less
marked in the formalin and carrageenan paw oedema tests, but were negative
in the hotplate test. The antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects
of the extract are thus confirmed in chemical models of nociception
in vivo (52).
Sedative and anticonvulsant effects
In an open-field test in rats, an aqueous-ethanol extract of the aerial parts
of Equisetum arvense, at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight (bw),
had anticonvulsant activity. The treatment enhanced the number of falls
in the rota-rod test, reducing the time of permanence on the bar. An increase
in barbiturate-induced sleeping time was also observed (46% and
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