Pharmacological studies of cardamom oil in animals

Cardamom seeds are widely used for flavouring purposes in food and as carminative. Little information has been reported on their pharmacological and toxicological properties or, for their volatile oil which constitutes about 5% of the seed's total weight. A comparative study of the anti-inflammatory activity of the oil extracted from commercial Elettaria cardamomum seeds, in doses of 175 and 280 mu l/kg and indomethacin in a dose of 30 mg/kg against acute carrageenan-induced planter oedema in male albino rats was performed, which proved to be marked. Moreover, investigation of the analgesic activity using p-benzoquinone as a chemical stimulus proved that a dose of 233 mu l/kg of the oil produced 50% protection against the writhing (stretching syndrome) induced by intraperitoneal administration of a 0.02% solution of p-benzoquinone in mice. In addition the antispasmodic activity was determined on a rabbit intestine preparation using acetylcholine as agonist, the results proving that cardamom oil exerts its antispasmodic action through muscarinic receptor blockage. (C) 1996 The Italian Pharmacological Society