Antitussive Activity of the Water-Extracted Carbohydrate Polymer from Terminalia chebula on Citric Acid-Induced Cough

• Main Authors: Gabriela Nosalova, Ludovit Jurecek, Udipta Ranjan Chatterjee, Sujay Kumar Majee, Slavomir Nosal, Bimalendu Ray
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2013-01-01
• Series: Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/650134

Terminalia chebula, a medicinal plant, is widely used in the management of various diseases. As the water extract of its dried ripe fruit is a frequently used preparation, we decided to look for bioactive polysaccharide in this extract. We demonstrate that the obtained polysaccharide fraction, CP, contained a highly branched arabinogalactan protein having a 1→3-, 1→6- and 1→3,6-linked β-D-Galp together with 1→5- and 1→3-linked α-L-Araf and nonreducing end units of α-L-Araf. This polymer possesses strong antitussive property. Our results showed that the number of citric acid-induced cough efforts decreased significantly after the oral application of polysaccharide fraction in a dose of 50 mg kg−1 body weight. Its antitussive efficacy was higher than cough suppressive effect of standard drug codeine. Therefore, traditional aqueous extraction method provides a major polysaccharide, which induces a pharmacological effect: this could represent an attractive approach in phytotherapeutic managements.