Thoracic and Vascular Surgery Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Curr Drug Discov Technol. 2021;18(2):179-185. doi: 10.2174/1568009620666200421091245.
Cough is one of the most common medical symptoms for which medical advice is sought. Although cough is a protective reflex responsible for clearing the airways from secretions and foreign bodies, it can be a troublesome symptom that causes discomfort to patients. Due to the increasing interest in herbal remedies in both developed and developing countries, in the current study, we aimed to overview medicinal herbs containing essential oils used as antitussive agents according to Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) textbooks. We summarized the relevant scientific evidence on their possible pharmacological effects.
To collect the evidence for the treatment of cough or "seaal" (cough in ancient books) from TPM sources, five main medicinal Persian manuscripts were studied. The antitussive herbs were listed and their scientific names were identified and authenticated following botanical reference books. ScienceDirect and PubMed online databases were searched for related mechanisms of action of the reported medicinal plants.
Forty-nine herbs containing essential oils have been recommended in TPM for the treatment of cough; 21 of them had at least one known mechanism of action for cough suppression in the scientific literature. According to this review, most of the cited medicinal plants were assessed for either nitric oxide inhibitory or antitussive/expectorant activities.
In addition to advantageous effects of antitussive herbs recommended by TPM, the present review highlighted some recent evidence-based data on these promising herbs that could be used as an outline for future research on their medicinal use.
咳嗽是寻求医学建议的最常见的医学症状之一。尽管咳嗽是一种清除气道分泌物和异物的保护性反射，但它也可能是一种令人不适的症状，给患者带来不适。由于草药在发达国家和发展中国家的应用日益受到关注，本研究旨在根据传统波斯医学（TPM）教材概述用作镇咳剂的含挥发油的草药。我们总结了其可能的药理作用的相关科学证据。
为了从 TPM 来源中收集治疗咳嗽或“seaal”（古书中的咳嗽）的证据，研究了五本主要的波斯医学手稿。列出了镇咳草药，并根据植物学参考书确定并鉴定了它们的科学名称。在 ScienceDirect 和 PubMed 在线数据库中搜索了报道的药用植物的相关作用机制。
在 TPM 中推荐了 49 种含有挥发油的草药来治疗咳嗽；其中 21 种在科学文献中至少有一种已知的抑制咳嗽作用机制。根据这项综述，大多数被引用的药用植物被评估为一氧化氮抑制或镇咳/祛痰活性。
除了 TPM 推荐的镇咳草药的有利作用外，本综述还强调了一些关于这些有前途的草药的基于最新证据的数据，这些数据可以作为未来研究其药用用途的大纲。
