Antihypertensive Activity of Different Fractions of Tridax Procumbens Crude Aqueous Extract in Wistar Rats

Abstract

Tridax procumbens is a medicinal plant used in traditional medicine for the treatment of hypertension but only few pharmacological data are available on its antihypertensive effect. The objective of this work was to assess the effect of Tridax procumbens extracts on arterial pressure of rats made hypertensive. Crude aqueous extract of aerial part of Tridax procumbens was fractioned by liquid-liquid chromatography method successively with cyclohexane, dichloromethane and ethyl acetate. A chemical screening was performed using thin layer chromatography. Hypertension was induced in rats by 7-days administration of N (G)-Nitro-LArginine- Methyl Ester (L-NAME) at 20mg/kg and fractions were then administrated to rats for the 7 following days at 30 mg/kg. Four main fractions (Dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, micellar and aqueous) were obtained from the crude extract. Altogether, alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, tannins, lignans, saponins, anthracenes, terpenes and sesquiterpenes, triterpenes compounds and essential oils were detected in the fractions. L-NAME treatment resulted in an increase in mean arterial pressure (MAP) from 107±7 mmHg to 145±7 mmHg. Ethyl acetate and dichloromethane fractions induced a significant reduction of MAP from 145±7 mmHg to respectively 110±2 and 117±3 mmHg. In view of these data, further studies must be conducted on these two fractions to identify the active molecules and their action mechanism.