Antitussive Effect of Rosa damascena in Guinea pigs

Abstract

Several therapeutic effects including hypnotic, antispasmodic, treatment of abdominal andchest pain and strengthening the heart have been described for the flowers of Rosa damascena.North American Indian tribes use a decoction of the roots obtained from the Rosa damascenaplant as a cough remedy and to treat eye problem. Therefore, in the present study the antitussiveeffect of this plant in guinea pigs was evaluated. The antitussive effect of aerosols of two differ-ent concentrations of ethanolic extract (5 and10% w/v), aqueous extract (10 and 20% w/v),codeine, and saline were tested counting the number of cough produced due to aerosol of citricacid 10 min after exposing animal to aerosols of different solutions (n=6 for each solution). Theresults showed a significant reduction in the number of coughs obtained in the presence of bothconcentrations of ethanolic extract, higher co ncentrations of aqueous extract and codeine(P