Effects of Radix Stemonae on the Airway Smooth Muscle

The purpose of the present study is to determine the effect of Radix Stemonae on histamine induced tracheal smooth muscle contraction in guinea pigs. Guinea pig(500g, male) were killed by exposure and a segment (8-10mm) of the thoracic trachea from guinea pig was cut into equal segments and mounted 'in pairs' in a tissue bath. Contractile force was measured with force displacement transducers under 0.5g loading tension. The dose of histamine (His) which evoked 50% of maximal response () was obtained from cumulative dose response curves for histamine (). Contractions evoked by His () were inhibited significantly by Radix Stemonae. In guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle, the mean percent inhibition of histamine induced contraction was 87.4% (p Radix Stemonae. Following treatment with propranolol, the mean percent inhibition caused by Radix Stemonae fell to 16.2% in guinea pig induced by histamine contraction. Indomethacin and methylene blue() did not significantly alter the inhibitory effect of Radix Stemonae. These results indicate that Radix Stemonae can relax histamine induced contraction of guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle, and that this inhibition involves sympathetic effects.