Background & Objective: Herbal medicine has an old history with a broad application all over the world. Many researches have focused on the curative as well as antinociceptive effects of herbal extracts. In the previous study the analgesic effect of Chamomile extract containing 2 mg/kg essence in Rats which revealed a significant analgesic effect were studied. In this study it is planned to compare the analgesic effect of chamomile extract and Morphine (as a standard analgesic) in mice.

  Methods: This experimental study was carried out in Shahid Sadughi Medical School on 48 Syrian mice (25-30 grams) which were randomly divided into 8 groups. In this study the analgesic effect of intraperitoneal administration of Chamomile extract containing 2 mg/kg essence and different doses of Morphine (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg) were assessed by using Formalin Test (for chronic pain during 1 hr. post Formalin injection) and Tail Flick Test (for acute pain during 2 hr. post drug administration in 15 min. time intervals).

  Results: The results of this study showed that 2^nd phase of Formalin Test had more analgesic effect than that of 0.5 mg/kg morphine. In the case of Tail Flick Test its analgesic effect was prominent 30-90 min. after drug administration which was identical to the analgesic effect of 1.0 and 0.5 mg/kg Morphine Sulfate (P > 0.05).

  Conclusion: Data from this study confirms the analgesic effect of chamomile essence which was indicated in our previous study and that this analgesic effect is comparable with 1 mg/kg of morphine sulfate in both the Formalin TEST & Tail Flick TEST. Chamomile as an analgesic should be studied more in different studies.

 Background & Objectives: One of the major concerns for parturient women and midwives is the healing of episiotomy and prevention of its subsequent complications. In order to achieve perineal healing in the past, cold and warmth therapy, traditional medicine and povidone iodine were used. But today episiotomy care includes ice pack and warm. One of non pharmacologic methods is aromatherapy and one of aromatherapy products is chamomile essence used in midwifery care and can extensively be applied to perineal healing and prevention of episiotomy infection. This clinical trial was conducted to assess the effects of chamomile essence on episiotomy healing on primiparous women referring to Talesh Hospital of Shaheed Norani in 2007.

 Methods: In this double blind clinical trial, 44 women on intervention group of chamomile essence and 44 women on control group of placebo used sitz bath together with routine care twice a day, for two weeks. Then episiotomy healing process was assessed on the first 12 hours, 7th and 14thdays of postpartum.

 Results: Healing process was considered as basic information on the first 12 hours. Findings showed that Mean pain on the 7th & 14th day decreased in the intervention group but it did not indicate a significant difference. Mean score (±standard deviation) perineal healing on the 7th day was on intervention group 1.61±1.08 and placebo group 1.34 ±0.9.Perineal healing mean on 14th day in intervention group 0.58 ±0.54 and placebo group 0.57±0.36. Mann Whitney, statistic tests showed no significant difference between these two groups.

 Conclusion: Results revealed that episiotomy healing was the same for both groups. It seems that more studies on this field with various doses and types of chamomile medical plant are necessary.

Background & Objective: Nowadays, female infertility and abortion is considered one of the most important issues in the medical world. Due to high consumption of chamomile as a medicinal herb, this study aimed to investigate the effects of chamomile consumption on abortion, estrogen, progesterone, FSH, LH hormones and ovarian follicles in adult female rats.

Methods: In this experimental study, 80 adult female rats were divided to 2 categories in 5 groups of 8 pregnant and non-pregnant rats, including control groups, sham group and groups receiving intraperitoneal doses of 30, 60 and 120 mg/kg chamomile hydro-alcoholic extract. At the end of the day 16 of pregnancy, aborted fetuses in pregnant groups were counted, and in day 21, the number of follicles and corpora-lutea in non-pregnant groups was obtained by separating ovaries, and sexual hormone levels were measured after phlebotomizing the samples. The results were analyzed by SPSS software (Ver.18) using ANOVA and Tukey tests. Significant difference of data was set at p≤0.05.

Results: The results of this study showed that chamomile caused a significant increase in the number of aborted fetuses and follicle atresia and a significant decrease (p≤0.05) in serum level of estrogen, progesterone, FSH and LH hormones as well as the number of pre-antral follicle, antral follicles, graph and corpora-lutea.

Conclusion: The results showed chamomile extract decreased LH and FSH, thereby decreasing ovarian follicles, sexual hormones and aborted fetuses.