Herbal Medicines Journal (Oct 2021)
Preliminary Comparative Investigation on Hypotensive Activities of Ethanolic Extracts of Securidaca longepedunculata, Olax subscorpioidea and Persea americana on Albino Rats
Abstract
Securidaca longipedunculata, Olax subscorpioidea and Persea americana are medicinal plants that serves several purposes in treating many ailments. In this study, the cardiovascular activity of ethanolic extract of the plants were separately assessed using rats of average weight of 181g. 20 Rats were utilized for each plant. Cardiovascular parameters were recorded through cannulation of the carotid artery on anaesthetized normotensive rats, following intravenous administration of ethanolic extract of S. longepedunculata (50-200mg kg-1), O. subscorpioidea (12.5 -50mg kg-1) and P. americana (200 and 400mg kg-1). Acetylcholine and nifedipine served as reference drugs while 0.9% saline was control. After administration of the extracts, physiological reaction of the animals were recorded via a polygraph device fastened to a pressure transducer. Extract caused significant (p˂0.05) decreased pulse rate, mean arterial, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. These extracts elicited significant blood pressure variation patterns that suggested an increased hypotensive activities. This may be adduced to the likely presence of some phytochemicals such as flavonoids in the plants that could possibly act as vasodilators or inhibitors of angiotensin converting enzymes. It may likely act like calcium channel blockers, β-blockers or natriuretic peptides. This pharmacological investigation therefore gives credence and justification to the ethnomedical, anecdotal and folkloric uses of S. longepedunculata, O. subscorpioidea and P. americana as blood depressants and revealed that O. subscorpioidea is more potent followed by S. longepedunculata and P. americana being the least potent.
