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
No information was found.
Uses described in pharmacopoeias and well established documents
No information was found.
Uses described in traditional medicine
Herba Origani is used to treat cough, colds and bronchial catarrh, and is
used as an expectorant and diaphoretic (39–41). Other uses include the
treatment of bloating, stimulation of bile secretion, of the appetite and of
digestion, and as a sedative and antispasmodic agent (15, 42, 43). Herba
Origani is also used as an emmenagogue in Unani medicine (44), and for
treatment of algomenorrhoea and impotence (45). The herb is used as a
diuretic and as a treatment for kidney infections, kidney stones and poor
renal function resulting from chronic nephritis (22). It is also used to treat
inflammation, arthritis (46), hepatitis (47, 48), and externally for scrofula
and wound healing (49).
Pharmacology
Experimental pharmacology
Antimicrobial activity
An ethanol extract (80%) of Herba Origani at a concentration of 250 µg/
ml/agar plate was active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis,
Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Salmonella
typhi, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus hemolyticus in vitro. Using
a disc diffusion method, the extract dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide at a
concentration of 4.0 µg/disc, exhibited antibacterial activity against Bacillus
subtilis. The inhibition halos in the same test (4.0 µg/disc) were: Klebsiella
pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis 4 mm, Salmonella typhi 8 mm,
Staphylococcus aureus 6 mm, Streptococcus hemolyticus 14 mm, and Escherichia
coli 20 mm. The essential oil of the dried leaf demonstrated antibacterial
activity at a concentration of 150.0 ppm against a broth culture
of Lactobacillus plantarum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides (50).
The aqueous ethanol extract (1:1) of the dried entire plant at a concentration
of 500 mg/ml/agar plate (dose expressed as dry weight of plant)
demonstrated weak antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus
niger, Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium digitatum,
Rhizopus nigricans, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, and antiyeast activity
against Candida albicans and Saccharomyces pastorianus (51). The
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