Медицина/10. Народная и нетрадиционная медицина.

Loburtsova M.S., Gontova T.N., Khvorost O.P.

National University of Pharmacy, Kharkov, Ukraine

The pharmacognostic study of Pulmonaria obscura

Lungwort, Pulmonaria L., is one of the genuses of the Boraginaceae Family. The most widespread type of this plant in the Eastern Europe is Pulmonaria obscura Dum. (the folk names are lungwort, lung herb, etc.).

In domestic literature Pulmonaria obscura is often called by mistake Pulmonaria officinalis, which is distributed only in the Cetral and West Europe. Practically P. obscura occurs on the whole territory of Ukraine and the European part of Russia (excluding northern regions). In Siberia P. mollis and P. mollissima are distributed. All species mentioned are rather similar and contain approximately the same groups of biologically active substances (BAS).

Being a meliferous plant lungwort is of special value for bees as a nutrient in early spring before the main nectareous plants flowering. Its nectar is in a great amount at the beginning of blossoming when the flowers are still rosy because blue flowers do not contain nectar. The nectar bearing capacity of P. mollissima in Siberia is 60—70 kg/ha, and P. obscura is 30 — 75 kg/ha.

Leaves of lungwort are edible and can be used for preparing vitamin salads and soups. In olden times a young fresh herb was often cooked in soups for ill people. In Britain Pulmonaria officinalis was especially grown as a plant for salads. Decorative properties of lungwort have been also noticed. Recently this shade-loving perennial plant has confidently «settled down» in the gardens.

Pulmonaria obscura is herbaceous perinnial plant flowering in early spring with a thick brown rhisome. It grows in shady forests, broad-leaved and spruce forests and coniferous forests, as well as on their edges, it also occurs in brushwood preferably on the sandy soil. The whole plant is covered with coarse distant simple and gland hairs. The stem is 15—30 cm, slightly costate, somehow twisted. Leaves are alternate, integrate, the upper leaves are sessile, oblong ovoid or oblong elliptical, narrowed to its base, the lower ones are ovoid, on short widely winged leafstalks, radical leaves developed after blossoming are widely ovoid, narrowed in a winged leafstalk at once. The plant blossoms in April — May. At first flowers are rosy, then purple-violet, at short peduncles, often in double tendrils with a few flowers gathered at the top of the stem like a corymb; the calyx in fruits are enlarged upwards, the corolla is tubular funnel-shaped and regular-shaped, laminas of limbs are rounded. The colour of flowers depends on their age and is connected with transformations of antocyane pigments. The fruit when matured falls into 4 rounded ovoid nuts sharp at the top. After the seeds have matured, the whole floriferous shoot with leaves died, radical rosettes are developed in the plant from large long leafstalks. These leaves remain the whole summer to the late autumn. For curative purposes only aboveground part (herb) is gathered during its flowering. It is cut with scissors or with the help of secateurs at the height of 4-6 cm from the land surface. The raw material prepared is put with a thin layer in a well-ventilated room and dried mixing from time to time. It is stored in a dark dry non-freezing place. The chemical composition of the plant is various. The plant contains mucilages, polysaccharides, carotene in a great amount, ascorbic acid, flavonoids, phenolcarboxylic acids, tannins, allantoin, the complex of microelements (manganese, iron, copper, vanadium, titanium, silver, nickel, strontium, etc.). Unlike other plants of the Boraginaceae Family lungwort does not practically contain alkaloids, which can have unfavourable side effect. In scientific medicine lungwort is not used in our country.

The plant has been known for a long time in the folk medicine as an expectorant, anti-inflammatory medicine, an emollient in lung diseases (that is why it is called lungwort), catarrh of the upper respiratory tract, diarrhea, dyspepsia, hemorrhoid, liver and renal diseases. The herb decoction is used externally for washing out purulent wounds, ulcers; from its decoction baths and lotions are made in scrofula and eczema. Recently the infusion from lungwort herb has been used in different diseases of the blood as a remedy stimulating blood formation since the plant contains the active blood-forming complex of microelements.

lungwort is widely used in many countries when treating resperatory diseases as an expectorant and enveloping agent. It helps well in whooping cough and bronchial asthma. And thanks to the content of the silicon compounds the plant «works» effectively in treating pulmonary tuberculosis. Microelements containing in the herb, first of all manganese, affect the blood forming processes and regulate the activity of some endocrine secration glands, promote the elimination of radionuclides from the organism. Decoction of lungwort decreases the blood coagulation and prevents thrombus formation. Infusion of the herb is taken in inflammation of kidneys, calculi in the bladder, gynecological diseases, different bleedings and hemorrhoid. The powdered leaves are applied to wounds and fresh cuts, they possess the wound-healing, hemostatic, antiseptic and astringent properties.

Severe bleeding wounds are treated with the fresh sap of the herb, as well as with the tinned one and a decoction from dry leaves. A dry powder of the herb acts also as a woung-healing remedy. Sometimes the skin in purulent diseases is washed by the sap of lungwort diluted in the ratio of 1:10. If a drop of sap from the fresh plant is applied on the skin, the yellow colour appears after a while like from the iodine tincture, that is why this plant is often called iodine herb in folk medicine and it is used instead of iodine. The decoction of lungwort is used externally for washing the skin in skin diseases; the fresh sap is rubbed into the skin of the head to strengthen hair.

We have carried out the pharmacognostical study of the flowering herb and rhisomes of Pulmonaria obscura stocked in different regions of Ukraine within the period of 2008-2011. At the same time the morphological and anatomic characteristic of the bulk and powdered raw material has been made. Using column adsorption chromatography on polyamide sorbent, silica gel, cellulose individual 27 substances have been isolated. With the help of physical, physical and chemical, as well as chemical methods their structure has been determined. They are 3 organic acids, 2 phenol carboxylic acids, 4 oxycinnamic acids, 5 , flavonoid aglycons, 6 flavonoid glycosides, 4 pigments and 3 sterols. We have studied the qualitative composition and the quantitative content of micro- and macroelements, amino acids and fatty acids of the herb and underground organs of Pulmonaria obscura. The quantitative content of water soluble vitamins В₁, В₂, РР, С and fat soluble vitamin Е in the raw material has been determined. The quantitative content of carotenoids and chlorophylls has been also determined. The lipophylic fractions of the herb and underground organs have been investigated. The quantitative content of the sum of oxidized phenols, flavonoids, hydroxycinnamic acids, tannins have been found. Water soluble polysaccharides, pectin substances and hemicellulose have been isolated. Their number indexes, including the monomer content, have been determined. The technological parameters of the raw material have been studied. The parameters of the technological process for obtaining dense extracts from the raw material (extractant, extraction temperature, the raw material:extractant ratio, overflow frequency and degree of the raw material powdering) have been determined. We have obtained dense extracts, and their anti-inflammatory activity has been proven in the Carrageenan-induced edema model.

Therefore, Pulmonaria obscura is a promising source for obtaining such types of the raw material as herb and roots with rhisomes, as well as the anti-inflammatory medicines.