The effects of diosmin (a benzo-pyrone) upon some high-protein oedemas: lung contusion, and burn and lymphoedema of rat legs.

Oral diosmin (a benzo-pyrone) was used to treat rats with contused lungs, in doses of 50 or 200 mg/kg/day. The contusion was produced by direct trauma. The lungs were examined with the electron microscope, both qualitatively and quantitatively, at 1, 2 and 4 days. It was found that diosmin considerably reduced interstitial oedema and tissue disorganization. The concentration of protein, both in the interstitial tissue and in the air spaces, was also much reduced. There was a greater effect at the higher dosage than at the lower one. In two other experiments, this drug was used in the usual models of burn oedema of the rat foot and acute lymphoedema of the rat leg - estimating the amount of oedema by weighing the parts. A low dose (50 mg/kg) reduced the burn oedema; a high dose (200 mg/kg) did not. Both doses reduced the acute lymphoedema of the whole leg, or thigh. The high dose did not do this in the foot, but the low one did. At high doses, diosmin has the usual benzo-pyrone property of releasing mediators in the rat-foot. In other tissues (and, no doubt, species) this drug reduces many forms of high-protein oedema, like the other benzo-pyrones.