Pharmacological evaluation of aqueous extract of Althaea officinalis flower grown in Lebanon

Figures & data

Table 1.  Percent fecal water content, fecal triacylglycerol (mg/g), and fecal cholesterol (mg/g) as determined after 29 days of Althaea officinalis flowers water extract intake in drinking water.

	Control	Group 1 (50 mg/kg body weight)	Group 2 (250 mg/kg body weight)	Group 3 (500 mg/kg body weight)
% Water content	71.1 ± 2.4	69.7 ± 2.1	70.3 ± 3.1	60.7 ± 3.3*
Triacylglycerol (mg/g dry feces)	1.7 ± 0.18	1.78 ± 0.11	1.91 ± 0.20	1.82 ± 0.13
Cholesterol (mg/g dry feces)	5.3 ± 0.31	4.9 ± 0.34	5.0 ± 0.39	4.6 ± 0.44

Values denote mean ± SEM (n = 8).

*P < 0.05 with respect to control

Table 2.  Mean serum concentrations of TAG, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, and glucose in control and treatment groups after 1 month Althaea officinalis flower water extract intake in drinking water.

	Control	Group 1 (50 mg/kg body weight)	Group 2 (250 mg/kg body weight)	Group 3 (500 mg/kg body weight)
Total cholesterol (mg/dl)	75 ± 3.17	82 ± 3.81	76 ± 3.04	74 ± 4.33
LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl)	35.5 ± 3.56	34.8 ± 1.68	33.2 ± 2.75	36.9 ± 2.26
HDL-cholesterol (mg/dl)	37.5 ± 2.33	47.4 ± 2.8*	42.8 ± 3.28	41.2 ± 3.26
Triacylglycerol (mg/dl)	62.2 ± 3.83	61 ± 2.50	59.7 ± 2.40	60.6 ± 2.81
Glucose (mg/dl)	110.5 ± 4.83	92.5 ± 6.12*	106 ± 5.63	109 ± 6.86

Values denote mean ± SEM (n = 8).

*P < 0.05 with respect to control.

Table 3.  SGOT, SGPT, ALP (U/L), serum activities, and SGOT/SGPT ratio of control and treatment groups after 1 month of supplementation with water extract of Althaea officinalis flower

	Control	Group 1 (50 mg/kg body weight)	Group 2 (250 mg/kg body weight)	Group 3 (500 mg/kg body weight)
SGOT U/l	183.88 ± 8.90	124.91 ± 5.26*	111.45 ± 11.59*	131.75 ± 6.11*
SGPT U/l	123.38 ± 3.79	89.80 ± 5.59*	113.09 ± 4.46	98.33 ± 3.98*
ALP U/l	359.70 ± 8.46	256.16 ± 14.33*	340.73 ± 16.50	350.63 ± 5.28
SGOT/SGPT	1.50 ± 0.13	1.43 ± 0.12	1.29 ± 0.12	1.378 ± 0.14

Values denote mean ± SEM (n = 8).

*P < 0.05 with respect to control

Table 4.  Effect of water extract of Althaea officinalis flowers upon acute (carrageenan-induced) and chronic (formalin-induced) inflammation.

Treatment	Dose (mg/kg)	Carrageenan		Formalin
		Increase in paw thickness after 3 h	% Inhibition	Increase in paw thickness after 6 days	% Inhibition
Control	—	1.097 ± 0.24	—	1.073 ± 0.21	—
Diclofenac	10	0.238 ± 0.08^a	88	0.290 ± 0.05^a	71
A. officinalis extract	100	0.758 ± 0.13^b	41	0.502 ± 0.13^a	60
A. officinalis extract	250	0.317 ± 0.12^a	78	0.422 ± 0.07^a	68
A. officinalis extract	500	0.44 ± 0.10^a	69	0.290 ± 0.02^a	52^b

Values are represented as mean ± SEM (n = 6).

^aSignificant difference with respect to control (P < 0.05).

^bSignificant difference with respect to diclofenac (P < 0.05).

Figure 1.  Effect of water extract of Althaea officinalis flowers on ethanol-induced gastric ulcer in rats. Values are represented as mean ± SEM (n = 6). ^aSignificant difference with respect to control (P < 0.05). ^bSignificant difference with respect to cimetidine (P < 0.05).

Table 5.  Effect of water extract of Althaea officinalis flowers (500 µg) on platelet aggregation induced by ADP (1 mM) when incubated with washed human platelets for 5, 10, and 20 min.

	Preincubation time (min)	Aggregation (%)	Inhibition (%)
ADP (1mM)	—	100	0
A. officinalis (flower water extract (500 µg)	5	82.1 ± 8.8	17.9
A. officinalis (flower water extract (500 µg)	10	42.2 ± 6.9^a	57.8
A. officinalis (flower water extract (500 µg)	20	28 ± 5.8^a	72

Values are represented as mean ± SEM (n = 5).

^aSignificant difference with respect to control (P < 0.05).