ABSTRACT

Thonningia sanguinea is one of the herbal preparations vised prophylactieally against asthma at the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine. Preparations of this plant are used with Desmodium adseendens which has been shown to be anti-anaphylactic. The anaphylactic reaction is a basic underlying phenomenon in asthma. In this work, the effects of T. eanguinea preparations were evaluated on some aspects of the disease. The method adopted was experimental anaphylaxis in the guinea pig. Both _in vivo and in vitro assay systems were used to evaluate extracts prepared from the plant material. The results showed that the plant material when administered orally (i) inhibited anaphylactic contractions in ileal pieces ( p < 0.05)* (ii) acted to reduce the sensitivity of ileal pieces to histamine (p < 0.05), (iii) inhibited the anaphylactic release of histamine from lung tissues (p < 0.05), (iv) reduced the amount (or effect) of mepyramine-resistant spasmogens released anaphylactically from lung tissues (p