Ghasemzadeh MR. Comparative hypnotic effect of rosa damascena fractions and diazepam in mice

Abstract Rosa damascena has been found to act on central nervous system including the brain. Several studies confirm that R. damascena inhibits the activity of the hypothalamus and pituitary systems in rat and can suppress the central nervous system. In traditional medicine hypnotic effect of Rose is also suggested. In this study, the hypnotic effect of the ethanol crude extract of R. damascena and its fractions was investigated in mice. Hypnotic method was based on prolongation pentobarbital induced sleeping time by the extract and fractions (with water, ethyl acetate and n-butanol). Two doses of extract and fractions (250 and 500 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneal in comparison with diazepam (3 mg/kg) as the positive control and saline (10 ml/ kg) as the negative control. Thirty minutes after injection of extract and fractions, pentobarbital (30 mg/kg) was injected and the increase in the sleeping time due to the extract and fractions was recorded. The results showed that the ethanol extract and fractions of R. damascena at 250 and 500 mg/kg doses prolonged the pentobarbital induced sleeping time in mice (P<0.05 to P<0.001). Among all fractions, aqueous fraction has the least, and the ethyl acetate fraction at 500 mg/kg dosage has the best hypnotic effect. In conclusion, the results of this study showed hypnotic effect of R. damascena which was more potent in ethyl acetate fraction

The Differences in the Relaxant Effects of Different Fractions of Rosa damascena on Guinea Pig Tracheal Smooth Muscle

Objective(s)In the present study, the differences in the relaxant effects of aqueous, ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions of Rosa damascena on tracheal smooth muscle of guinea pigs were examined. Materials and MethodsThe relaxant effects of three cumulative concentrations of each fraction (0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 g%) in comparison with saline and three cumulative concentrations of theophylline (0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 mM) were examined on precontracted tracheal chains of guinea pig by 60 mM KCl (group 1, n= 5) and 10 µM methacholine (group 2, n= 8). ResultsIn group 1, all concentrations of theophylline, ethyl acetate fraction and two final concentrations of n-butanol fraction showed significant relaxant effects in comparison with saline (p< 0.05 to P< 0.001). In group 2, all concentrations of theophylline, ethyl acetate and aqueous fractions showed concentration dependent relaxant effects compared to that of saline (p< 0.01 to P< 0.001). In addition, the effect of ethyl acetate fraction in group 1 was significantly higher than those of theophylline (p< 0.05 to p< 0.001). However, the effects of other fractions were significantly lower than theophylline in both groups (p< 0.01 to p< 0.001). There were significant correlations between the relaxant effects and concentrations for theophylline and all fractions (except aqueous fractions in group 1) in both groups. ConclusionThe results showed a potent relaxant effect for ethyl acetate fraction of R. damascena on tracheal smooth muscle comparable to that of theophylline but a relatively weak relaxant effect for aqueous and n-butanol fractions at concentrations used