Aimofthestudy:
Themethanol/methylenechloride)extract from the stem bark of Mammea africana was showed to possess vasodilating effect in the presence and the absence of
The present study was designed to evaluatethe effects of the methanol/methylene chloride from the stem bark of Mammea africana
.
Materials and methods:
The extract (200mg/(kgday)) was administered orally in rats treated concur-rently and captopril (20mg/(kgday))wereused as positive controls. Bodyweight, systolic arterial blood pressure and heart rate were measuredweekly throughout the experiment period (28 days). At the end of treatment, animals were killed andthe cardiac mass index evaluated. The aorta was used to evaluate the endothelium-dependant relax-ation to carbachol. The aorta contraction induced by noradrenalin was also examined and expressed as apercentage of that induced by KCl.
Results:
The extract neither affected the body weight nor the heart rate. The extract as captopril com-pletely prevented the development of arterial hypertension. Both the substances failed to restore theendothelium-dependent vascular relaxation and increased the vascular contraction to norepinephrine inrelation to KCl contraction. They also significantly reduced the left ventricular hypertrophy induced by