PARTE UTILIZADA= Used part: Las hojas frescas, raíces y sumidades floridas.

ACCIÓN FARMACOLÓGICA= Pharmacological action: Vulneraria, refrescante, antihemorroidal, laxante y purgante.

POSOLOGÍA= Posology: Llagas y hemorroides. Preparar el siguiente unguento: mezclar 30 g de la raíz seca reducida a polvo con 100 g de manteca de cerdo fresca. Después `poner en un recipiente al baño María hasta que se derrita la manteca y se haga homogénea con el polvo de la raíz. Se deja enfriar y ya queda listo el unguento. Se aplica 2 o 3 veces al día una pequeña loción sobre las partes afectadas. Es refrescante y emoliente.

COMPOSICIÓN QUÍMICA= Chemical composition: Contiene saponina, lecitina, resina, azúcar, y principios amargos.

ZONA GEOGRÁFICA= Geografical zone: Caminos de Santiago.
 

ÚLTIMOS AVANCES EN LA QUÍMICA Y ACTIVIDADES BACTERIOLÓGICAS EN LAS PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants, last advances on chemistry and bacteria activities on the medicinal herbs
 
1) The antioxidant properties of twenty medical herbs used in the traditional Mediterranean and Chinese medicine were studied.  Exts. from Forsythia suspensa, Helichrysum italicum, Scrophularia auriculata, Inula viscosa, Coptis chinensis, Poria cocos and Scutellaria baicalensis had previously shown anti-inflammatory activity in different exptl. models.  Using free radical-generating systems H. italicum, I. viscosa and F. suspensa protected against enzymic and non-enzymic lipid peroxidn. in model membranes and also showed scavenging property on the superoxide radical.  All exts. were assayed at a concn. of 100 g/mL.  Most of the exts. were weak scavengers of the hydroxyl radical and C. chinensis and P. cocos exhibited the highest scavenging activity.  Although S. baicalensis inhibited the lipid peroxidn. in rat liver microsomes and red blood cells, the ext. showed inhibitory actions on aminopyrine N-demethylase and xanthine oxidase activities as well as an pro-oxidant effect obsd. in the Fe3+-EDTA - H2O2 system.  The results of the present work suggest that the anti-inflammatory activities of the same exts. could be explained, at least in part, by their antioxidant properties.

2) A new iridoid glycoside, scrovalentinoside (I), was isolated from the MeOH ext. of the aerial parts of Scrophularia auriculata L. ssp. pseudoauriculata. The structure of I was elucidated as 6-O-(2'',3''-di-O-acetyl-4''-O-p-methoxy-cinnamoyl)-a-L-rhamnopyranosyl catalpol by spectroscopic methods. The known iridoid glycoside, scropolioside A; two saponins, verbascosaponin A and verbascosaponin; and the phenylethanoid glycoside, verbascoside, were also isolated.

3) The activity of the four glycoterpenoids: two saponins, verbascosaponin A and verbascosaponin, and two iridoids, scropolioside A and scrovalentinoside, isolated from Scrophularia auriculata ssp. pseudoauriculata, were studied in different models of acute and chronic inflammation.  Both saponins significantly inhibited the mouse paw edema induced by carrageenan and ear edema induced by single and multiple doses of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA).  Verbascosaponin A showed a potency twice as high as that of indomethacin in the acute TPA model.  Verbascosaponin A and scropolioside A were active after a long latency period against ethyl phenylpropiolate edema, as are glucocorticoids.  When the putative corticoid-like mechanism of the two compounds was studied, verbascosaponin A activity was notably reduced by the mRNA synthesis inhibitor, actinomycin D, while the effect of scropolioside A was partially interfered with by the anti-glucocorticoid drugs used.  Both iridoids were active on the delayed type hypersensitivity reaction.  They significantly reduced the inflammatory lesion and suppressed the cellular infiltration.
 

1) ALFARO, Txumari, Plantas y remedios naturales de los caminos de santiago. Barcelona: B.S.A. 2008, p. 94.

2) SCHINELLA, G. R., et al. Antioxidant activity of anti-inflammatory plant extracts.  Life Sciences. 2002, vol.70, nº9, p.1023-1033.
3) GINER, Rosa Maria, et al. A New Iridoid from Scrophularia auriculata ssp. pseudoauriculata.  Journal of Natural Products. 1998, vol.61, nº9, p.1162-1163.
4) GINER, R M, et al. Anti-inflammatory glycoterpenoids from Scrophularia auriculata.   European journal of pharmacology. 2000, vol.389, nº2-3, p.243-252.