INFLUENCE OF MEADOW CLOVER (TRIFOLIUM PRATENSE) ON THE ORGANISM IN OXYGEN DEFICIENCY

Abstract

In folk medicine, for diseases of the respiratory system (bronchitis, bronchial asthma, colds), when the body feels a lack of oxygen, many medicinal herbs with antihypoxic properties are recommended. Red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) is one of these herbs. Experiments have shown that in case of acute oxygen deficiency corresponding to a height of 7–8 thousand m, created in a laboratory pressure chamber, the breathing of animals in the control group stops. And animals fed clover flowers for 10 days can withstand acute oxygen deficiency even with a 10-minute superposition at this altitude. This is due to an increase in the resistance of the neurons of the respiratory center of the medulla oblongata to hypoxia: the simultaneously recorded impulse activity of neurons in experimental animals shows high resistance to hypoxia, compared with the control group.