Mechanism of prosecretory action of individual extracts of the herbal medicine STW 5 in human intestine

Background & Aims: STW5 (Iberogast®) is a herbal combination from bitter candy tuft, chamomile, peppermint (P), caraway, liquorice, lemon balm (L), angelica (A), greater celandine and milk thistle, used for treatment of functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). We reported that STW5 increased ion secretion in the human intestine and proposed that this prosecretory action may be involved in its clinical efficacy. Our aim was to investigate the secretory potential of the nine extracts on human gut epithelium in order to reveal target oriented herbal combinations. Methods: We used the Ussing chamber…