Smilax aspera in the medical world

Smilax aspera is a plant that belongs to the Liliaceae family. This plant has been used in herbal medicine for muscle relaxation, rheumatic pain, as diuretic, diaphoretic, stimulant and has been traditionally used to treat hypertension, diabetes, digestive disorders, and bladder dysfunction. This work was undertaken to chemically analyze this plant and to study the effect of its aqueous extract and of the selected compound "resveratrol" on rat isolated smooth muscles blood pressure of anesthetized rats, inflammation and analgesia. The results of this work has shown that the aqueous extract of smilax aspera had a contractile effect on rat isolated smooth muscles, reduced both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, had an analgesic effect in acetic acid-induced writhes and reduced carrageenan-induced paw edema in rat. Also, this work has shown that the selected compound "resveratrol" had a relaxant effect on isolated smooth muscles, reduced both systolic and diastolic blood, decreased significantly pain induced by acetic acid and had an anti-inflammatory effect since it reduced the volume of the rat hind paws in the carrageenan-induced paw edema model.