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Flos Helichrysi arenarii
nosa at a concentration of 1mg/ml/agar plate. No activity was exhibited
against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella paratyphi
A, Salmonella typhi, Shigella flexneri and Staphylococcus albus and
Staphylococcus aureus, at the same concentration (40). Fractionation of
the dichloromethane extract of Flos Helichrysi yielded seven isolates,
which exhibited varying antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive
bacteria (41).
A 10% aqueous extract of the dried flowers of the plant demonstrated
antiviral activity against herpes virus (type 2), influenza virus A2 (Manheim
57) and Vaccini virus, and was inactive against poliovirus type II in
cell culture (42, 43).
Spasmolytic activity
Aqueous solutions of the active constituents of the plant, naringenin-5-
glucoside (I), kaempferol-3-glucoside (II) and apigenin, dissolved in
phosphate-buffered sodium hydroxide (III) were intravenously injected
at a dose of 4 mg/100 g body weight (bw) in rats. All preparations showed
spasmolytic activity and had similar choleretic effects in rats (approximately
33% of that of dehydrocholic acid). This activity was highest following
treatment with extract III, lower for II and least for I. Similar
pharmacological tests were carried out with 5-methoxy-7-hydroxyphthalide
isolated from the plant, but the results were negative. An
alcohol extract containing all flavonoids and an aqueous extract containing
no flavonoids (50 mg/100 g bw) were also tested. The extract with all
flavonoids demonstrated spasmolytic activity similar to that of preparations
I, II and III. The extract containing no flavonoids elicited a spastic
response in smooth muscles isolated from rat intestine and gall-bladder.
The researchers concluded that the activity of Galenical preparations of
Helichrysum arenarium depended only on the flavonoid content. Infusions
and decoctions (10%) of Helichrysum arenarium showed a rather
weak spasmolytic effect (44).
Diuretic activity
No diuretic activity was observed when a decoction, infusion and various
extracts (ether, ethanol, aqueous) of the dried whole plant were
administered by the intraduodenal route to dogs and the intragastric
route to rats at a dose of 10 mg/kg bw and 50 mg/kg bw, respectively.
A parallel pharmacokinetic study in dogs showed poor absorption of
the decoction from the gastrointestinal tract. An intravenous injection
of the same doses of the drug to dogs had a significant diuretic effect
(44).
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