RESEARCHES ON A TURKISH MEDICINAL PLANT, ECBALIUM-ELATERIUM

In Turkey, the fresh fruit juice of Ecbalium elaterium (Cucurbitaceae) is directly applied into nostrils for the treatment of sinusitis. Cli nical tests on voluntary patients revealed that the healing rate of do uble-high dosage application is higher than that of the single-low dos age (71.0 and 56.6%, respectively). In addition, a total relief from t he main symptoms is observed in 20% of the patients, although the sinu ses are not completely drained off on X-ray examination. As the next s tep, the active anti-inflammatory principle which might be responsible for its activity is isolated through the fraction of the fruit juice with solvent extraction and preparative tlc. For the fractionation pro cess, the effects of the fractions on increased vascular permeability induced by AcOH in mice are used and the structure of the active anti- inflammatory principle thus obtained is elucidated as cucurbitacin B. Further studies are conducted to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activi ty of cucurbitacin B using serotonin- and bradykinin-induced edemas in mice. On the other hand, cucurbitacin B content in the juice is deter mined as 2.48% by HPLC.