Mistletoe

MISTLETOE (Viscum album L.), an evergreen shrub plant from the family Loranthaceae, parasitizing on the branches of various tree species: pine, spruce, fir, larch, birch, maple, acacia, apple, pear, etc. Mistletoe is distributed in the southern regions of the USSR, in eastern Siberia, and in central and southern Europe. The young stems with leaves are collected in late autumn or winter and dried. The taste of the stems and leaves is cloying and bitter; there is no odor. Mistletoe contains a sticky rubber-like resinous substance viscin (6-7%), mainly in the bark and also in the berries; a bitter substance; a volatile alkaloid of composition C₈H₁₇N (Leprince; 1907); two glycosides with saponin character, etc. Mistletoe has been used in folk medicine since ancient times. Ancient physicians considered mistletoe to be the surest remedy

for epilepsy, convulsions, and hemorrhages. Physicians of the 18th and early 19th centuries used mistletoe for menstrual and hemorrhoidal bleedings, as well as for dizziness, apoplexy, and hysteria. After some infatuation with mistletoe, it was forgotten. However, in the early 20th century, the first works on the pharmacological and therapeutic action of mistletoe appeared. Gaultier (1906) proposed mistletoe as an agent that lowers blood pressure due to depression of the vasomotor center. According to Busquet (1926), mistletoe causes vasodilation due to depression of the bulbar and spinal cord centers. Holste (1928) established that mistletoe also acts peripherally, dilating small arteries and capillaries. A number of authors consider mistletoe to be a good vasodilator in cases of hypertension, mainly essential hypertension. Nolle (1930) established that an aqueous extract of mistletoe, freed from ballast substances, causes a prolonged drop in blood pressure due to depression of the vasomotor centers of the medulla oblongata and spinal cord. Mistletoe acts depressant on the central nervous system without prior excitation. Respiration under the influence of mistletoe slows down and deepens significantly. On the vessels of isolated organs (rabbit ear, cat liver and kidney), mistletoe exerts an insignificant dilating effect. The liquid extract of mistletoe compared to other forms (infusion, decoction, tincture) is the most pharmacologically active. Doses of liquid extract: 20-30 drops per dose. Abroad, a mistletoe preparation is available commercially under the name Viscysat by Burger.