Throughout history folk medicine has served as an alternative or complimentary method of treating disorders like intestinal colic. Mistletoe is a common name for many species of semi-parasitic plants that grow on trees throughout the world, and has been used widely to treat intestinal colic. | Turk J Biol 32 (2008) 237-242 © TÜBİTAK The Effects of Mistletoe (Viscum album L. subsp. album) Extracts on Isolated Intestinal Contractions Alper KARAKAŞ1, Erdinç SERİN2, Bülent GÜNDÜZ1, Arzu UÇAR TÜRKER1 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Abant İzzet Baysal University, 14280, Bolu - TURKEY 2 Department of Biochemistry, İzzet Baysal Medical Faculty, Abant İzzet Baysal University, 14280, Bolu - TURKEY Received: Abstract: Throughout history folk medicine has served as an alternative or complimentary method of treating disorders like intestinal colic. Mistletoe is a common name for many species of semi-parasitic plants that grow on trees throughout the world, and has been used widely to treat intestinal colic. We conducted a study to evaluate the effect of freeze-dried (group 1) and heat-treated (group 2) extracts of Viscum album subsp. album leaves on contractions induced by acetylcholine in isolated hamster intestinal segments (duodenum, jejunum, and ileum). Freeze-dried extracts decreased intestinal contractions in all the intestinal segments (P 180 μg/ml reduced jejunal contractions significantly (P ). In group 1A and 1C, the results were similar to those of group 1B, but the level of decrease in contractions was not as pronounced as in group 1B. @ &! ' * * +=?' Figure 1. Dilatation percentage versus dose increments of freeze-dried mistletoe extracts in duodenum (1A), jejunum (1B), and ileum (1C). Open bar represents 0 μg/ml, right striated bar represents 20 μg/ml, left striated bar represents 60 μg/ml, cross striated bar representWs 180 μg/ml, horizontal striated bar represents 360 μg/ml, vertical striated bar represents 540 μg/ml, small squares striated bar represents 600 μg/ml freezedried extract administration. Different letters indicate the statistical difference. Values were considered statistically significant at P 500 μg/ml .
