Abstract

ANTIHYPERTENSIVE AND LIPID LOWERING EFFECT OF TERMINALIA ARJUNA (AQUEOUS EXTRACT) IN SPONTANEOUSLY HYPERTENSIVE RATS (SHR): AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Srivastava Pooja*, Bajpai Manish, Kumar Pradeep, Tiwari Sunita and Singh Kalpana

Abstract

Hypertension is one of the leading causes of death in developed as well as in developing countries. Essential hypertension is accounting for 90 percent of all cases of hypertension. Alternative methods including supplementation with various herbs offer an effective way to decrease the rising number of people with high blood pressure. Terminalia arjuna (TA) is reported to be used in Indian medicinal system (Ayurveda) since thousands years. Exact mechanism responsible for reduction in blood pressure by Terminalia arjuna yet to be proved. In, present study we examined the effect of TA on various lipids in hypertensive rats. The study was conducted on 30 spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) divided in to five groups. Group I treated as control and Group II a, b, c treated with aqueous extract of Terminalia arjuna (AETA) in various doses. Group III was treated with known hypotensive drug enalapril. After 4 weeks of experimental protocol, blood pressure, heart rate, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were measured. The present study shows that the Terminalia arjuna has potential to lower serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) and significantly decreases the blood pressure and heart rate in SHR rats.

Keywords: Terminalia arjuna, SHR Rats, Hypertension, Lipid Profile.