[Herbal medicines alternative to synthetical medicines]. / Phytopharmaka als Alternative zu Synthetika.

Herbal pharmaceuticals in medical practice are similarly used as chemically well defined drugs. Like other synthetical drugs, they are subject to pharmaceutical legislature (AMG) and EU directives. It is to differentiate between phytopharmaceuticals with effectiveness of proven indications and traditional registered herbal medicine. Through the Health Reform Act January 2004 and the policy of the Common Federal Committee (G-BA)on the contractual medical care from March 2009--with four exceptions--Non-prescription Phytopharmaka of the legal Health insurance is no longer (SHI) refundable and must be paid by the patients. The result is that more and more well-established preparations disappear from the market. This article gives an overview of practical relevant indications for herbal medicines, which according to its licensing status, the scientific assessment by the Cochrane Collaboration and the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) and evidence-based Medicine (EBM)/ meta-analyzes as an alternative to synthetics can be used.

[Is there a rational therapy for symptomatic treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia with phytogenic drugs? Illustrated with the example of the prostate agent from Serenoa repens (Sabal fructus)]. / Gibt es eine rationale Therapie zur symptomatischen Behandlung der benignen Prostatahyperplasie mittels Phytopharmaka? Erläutert am Beispiel der Prostatamittel aus Serenoa repens (Sabal fructus).

In summary, even when the scientific findings are subjected to a stringently critical evaluation, it must be concluded that the denigration of herbal prostate drugs to mere placebos, as occasionally occurs, is not scientifically tenable. This is especially true of the lipophilic extract of Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens fruits) in a daily dose of 320 mg extract. All in all, far more experimental and clinical studies have been conducted with herbal prostate drugs than with "fashionable" drugs, such as alpha 1-receptor antagonists and finasteride, since with the latter only studies of recent design are available. A dogmatic evaluation of one drug group or another is certainly not in the patients' best interest. As the overview shows, both groups of substances are useful for individualized treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), provided that conservative pharmacological treatment of BPH is basically accepted and that the patients' quality of life is also considered. Phytomedicines have less side effects and lower costs.

Antispasmodic and relaxant activity of chelidonine, protopine, coptisine, and Chelidonium majus extracts on isolated guinea-pig ileum.

Two ethanolic dry extracts from the herb Chelidonium majus L. with a defined content of the main alkaloids (chelidonine, protopine, and coptisisine) and the alkaloids themselves were studied in three different antispasmodic test models on isolated ileum of guinea-pigs. In the BaCl2-stimulated ileum, chelidonine and protopine exhibited the known papaverine-like musculotropic action, whereas coptisine (up to 3.0 x 10(-5) g/ml) was ineffective in this model. Both extracts were active with 53.5% and 49.0% relaxation at 5 x 10(-4) g/ml. The carbachol and the electric field stimulated contractions were antagonized by all three alkaloids. Coptisine showed competitive antagonist behaviour with a pA2 value of 5.95. Chelidonine and protopine exhibited a certain degree of non-competitive antagonism. In the electric field the antagonist activities decreased in the order protopine > coptisine > chelidonine. The concentrations of the chelidonium herb extracts for 50% inhibition of the carbachol and electrical field induced spasms were in the range of 2.5 to 5 x 10(-4) g/ml.

[The potential nephrotoxic effects of essential juniper oil]. / Untersuchungen auf mögliche nephrotoxische Wirkungen von aetherischem Wacholderbeeröl.

The nephrotoxicity of juniper oil (CAS 73049-62-4), a phytomedicine with diuretic resp. aquaretic activity, was evaluated in male Sprague-Dawley rats after oral administration. Two chemically slightly different oil batches were tested for 28 days with 100, 333 or 1000 mg (series 1, batch 1) resp. 100, 300 or 900 mg (series 2, batch 2) juniper oil/kg. Additionally terpinene-4-ol, a compound with postulated aquaretic activity, which can be found in essential juniper oil up to an amount of 10 mg% was tested in a dosage of 400 mg/kg. Neither of the tested substances induced changes in function or morphology of the kidneys at the tested doses, and they were revealed to be nontoxic.

Electron microscopic and microcalorimetric investigations of the possible mechanism of the antibacterial action of a defined propolis provenance.

Microcalorimetric and electron microscopic studies on the mode of the antibacterial action of propolis were performed on Streptococcus agalactiae. It was shown that propolis inhibits bacterial growth by preventing cell division, thus resulting in the formation of pseudo-multicellular streptococci. In addition, propolis disorganized the cytoplasm, the cytoplasmic membrane, and the cell wall, caused a partial bacteriolysis, and inhibited protein synthesis. It was evident that the mechanism of action of propolis on bacterial cells is complex and a simple analogy cannot be made to the mode of action of any classic antibiotics.