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COMPARATIVE ANTIHYPERTENSIVE PROPERTIES OF AQUEOUS EXTRACTS OF LEAVES, STEM BARK AND ROOTS OF HURA CREPITANS (L) IN ADRENALINE INDUCED HYPERTENSIVE ALBINO RATS.

Adindu Eze Azubuike, Elekwa Iheanyichukwu, Okereke Stanley, Ogwo Joseph I.


The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the antihypertensive properties of the different parts (leaves, stem bark and roots) of Hura crepitans with a known standard antihypertensive drug-Propanolol. There were six animal groups of five animals each and their body weights were measured before, after induction and after treatment. All the groups were induced with hypertension with 0.1ml of adrenaline for 7consecutive days except group 1, which acted as the normal control normotensive rats (NR). Group 2 consisted of hypertensive untreated rats (HUR); Group 3 consisted of propanolol treated hypertensive rats (PTHR); Group 4 consisted of aqueous leaf extract treated hypertensive rats (LTHR); Group 5 consisted of stem bark treated hypertensive rats (BTHR); and Group 6 consisted of aqueous root treated hypertensive rats (RTHA). All the treated groups were administered with equal doses of 500mg/kg of the different plant extracts through oral gavage, except group 3 that was administered with 0.65mg/kg of propanolol. Water and commercial rat feed were given ad libitum. The treatment lasted for 14days. Effects of the different extracts on different biochemical parameters such an body weight (BW), pulse rate (PR), serum creatine phosphokinase activity (CPA), Lactate Dehydrogenase Activity (LDHA), some liver enzymes (ALT & AST) and lipid profile (total Cholesterol (TC), Triglycerides (TG) Low Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (LDLC),High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) & Very Low Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (VLDLC). They were evaluated at various stages: pre-induction, post-induction and post- treatment. All the animals gained weight significantly (P<0.05). A significant decrease in pulse rate after treatment was recorded in all the treated animal groups when compared with UHA. All the treated animals showed significant decrease (P<0.05) in both ALT and AST activities. There was also significant decrease in LDHA in all the treated animal groups. In the LTHR, CPA increased significantly, while the other groups recorded non-significantly decrease in CPA. A significant decrease was recorded in TC in PTHR, LTHR and RTHR. TG and HDL decreased significantly in the treated animal groups. LDLC increased significantly in all the animal groups. There was also a significant decrease in VLDLC. These results suggest that the aqueous extracts of the different parts Hura crepitans possess hypertensive properties.