Mohammad Mahdi Ahmadian-Attari 1,
Zahra Amrollahi 2,
Paria Safavi Momeni 2,
Zohreh Khodaii 3,
Ali Bita'ab 4,
Atefeh Hajiagha Bozorgi 5 *
1 Evidence-based Phytotherapy and Complementary Medicine Research Center, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran
2 Faculty of Pharmacy, Islamic Azad University, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Tehran, Iran
3 Dietary Supplements & Probiotic Research Center, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran
4 Research and Development Unit, R.N.D. Trita Pharmaceutical Company, Tehran, Iran
5 Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran
Abstract
Background: Various animal excrements have been used as a medicine for the treatment of
different diseases in the past. Today, people still use some of these excrements, especially female
donkey dung (Anbarnasara,) by smelling the smoke of burnt dung for some ailments like sinusitis
and bronchitis. Recently, some studies have focused on the therapeutic activities of Anbarnasara
but no one has studied the active ingredients of it.
Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the chemical constituents and antibacterial
activities of Anbarnasara and its smoke.
Materials and Methods: Female donkey dungs were collected from Shahreza in May 2017. The
substance was burnt and the smoke was led to a beaker of methanol by a distillation apparatus.
Then, the methanolic extract was dried via a rotary evaporator. Antibacterial activity of the
smoke and also the total methanolic extract of Anbarnasara were tested on Staphylococcus
aureus and Escherichia coli via well diffusion method. Chemical constituents were analyzed
through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) .
Results: The results showed that Anbarnasara and its smoke have a very weak antibacterial
activity. Regarding chemical constituents, both total methanolic extract and smoke extract
predominantly contained toluene, xylene, and dibutyl phthalate.
Conclusion: Previous studies showed xylene as one of the major components of the smoke
of Anbarnasara. These articles also reported the presence of some plant-based compounds
such as glyoxal, syringol, and limonene in the smoke. The presence of these compounds is
probably due to the donkeys’ diet. In our study, the presence of dibutyl phthalate, an industrial
plasticizer, among the components is probably due to environmental factors. These evidences
suggested that Anbarnasara is under the influence of environmental factors like vegetation and
pollutions and therefore, should be used as a medicine with caution. Recent claims regarding
the antibacterial, cytotoxic, and wound healing activities of Anbarnasara should be considered
independent of these environmental factors.