OBJECTIVE Various immunological effects have been reported during application of mistletoe preparations. Because these data are heterogeneous, we performed a placebo controlled study to investigate (1) effects on peripheral granulocyte and eosinophil counts, (2) related cytokine levels and (3) whether effects are related to mistletoe lectin (ML). METHODS 43 volunteers were randomized to recei...

Purpose Aqueous Viscum album L. extracts (VAE) are widely used in complementary cancer therapies. Due to their low solubility, triterpene acids, which are known to possess anti-cancer properties, do not occur in aqueous extracts in significant amounts. Using cyclodextrins it was possible to solubilize mistletoe triterpene acids and to determine the anti-cancer properties in different acute lymp...

objective(s):ethnopharmacological field surveys demonstrated that many plants, such as gentiana olivieri, helichrysum graveolens, helichrysum plicatum ssp. plicatum, juniperus oxycedrus ssp. oxycedrus, juniperus  communis var. saxatilis, viscum album (ssp. album, ssp. austriacum), are used as traditional medicine for diabetes in different regions of anatolia. the present study was designed to e...

Host size and distance from an infected plant have been previously found to affect mistletoe occurrence in woody vegetation but the effect of host plant competition on mistletoe infection has not been empirically tested. For an individual tree, increasing competition from neighbouring trees decreases its resource availability, and resource availability is also known to affect the establishment ...

Materials and methods: Hepatotoxicity was induced by CCl4 orally (0.28 mL/kg). Rats received either Viscum album at 1 of 2 dose levels (0.1 or 0.2 mL/kg) once weekly subcutaneously alone or with silymarin (25 mg/kg, orally), or silymarin (25 mg/kg) once daily orally for 1 month, starting at the time of administration of CCl4. Liver damage was assessed by determining liver serum enzyme activitie...

The effects of hexanoic extracts of Viscum cruciatum Sieber parasitic on Crataegus monogyna Jacq. (I), Crataegus monogyna Jacq. parasitized with Viscum cruciatum Sieber (II), and Crataegus monogyna Jacq. non-parasitized (III), and of a triterpenes enriched fractions isolated from I, II and III (CFI, CFII, CFIII respectively), on the growth of HEp-2 cells have been evaluated. All the samples dem...

Cuticular waxes of Viscum album subspecies and of V. cruciatum have been examined for their micromorphology and chemical composition. Wax crystalloids occur preferably as irregular platelets and rodlets, while deviant structures are found in small areas. Among the triterpenoids forming the wax layer, oleanolic acid is prevailing with some 80%. The quantitative composition of the long-chain alip...

Mistletoe is collected wildly on various plants and Phragmanthera incana is noted to grow on different plant hosts. This study was designed to carry out the ethnobotanical survey, phytochemical and mineral analyses of Phragmanthera incana, a species of mistletoe growing on three plant hosts namely Cocoa (Theobroma cacao), Kolanut (Cola nitida) and Bush mango (Irvingia gabonensis). Mistletoe sam...