Proposed mechanisms of action of herbal drugs and their biologically active constituents in the treatment of coughs: an overview

PeerJ. 2023 Oct 24:11:e16096. doi: 10.7717/peerj.16096. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Various medicinal plants find their use in cough treatment, based on traditions and long-term experience. Pharmacological principles of their action, however, are much less known. Herbal drugs usually contain a mixture of potentially active compounds, which can manifest diverse effects. Expectorant or antitussive effects, which can be accompanied by others, such as anti-inflammatory or antibacterial, are probably the most important in the treatment of coughs. The aim of this review is to summarize the current state of knowledge of the effects of medicinal plants or their constituents on cough, based on reliable pharmacological studies. First, a comprehensive description of each effect is provided in order to explain the possible mechanism of action in detail. Next, the results related to individual plants and substances are summarized and critically discussed based on pharmacological in vivo and in vitro investigation.

Keywords: Anti-inflammatory; Antibacterial; Antitussive; Antiviral; Cough; Expectorant; Herbal drugs; Mechanism of action; Medicinal plants; Phytotherapy.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antitussive Agents* / pharmacology
  • Cough / drug therapy
  • Expectorants / pharmacology
  • Humans
  • Phytotherapy
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology
  • Plants, Medicinal*

Substances

  • Antitussive Agents
  • Expectorants
  • Plant Extracts

Grants and funding

This open-access review article was supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships, Project no. 2020-1-CZ01-KA203-078218 and Charles University (SVV 260 549). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.