Cardioprotective, hypotensive and toxicological studies of Populus ciliata (Wall. ex Royle)

β-Citronellol: a potential anti-inflammatory and gastro-protective agent-mechanistic insights into its modulatory effects on COX-II, 5-LOX, eNOS, and ICAM-1 pathways through in vitro, in vivo, in silico, and network pharmacology studies

BACKGROUND

The current study aimed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and pronounced gastro-protective activities of β- Citronellol using in vitro, in vivo assays and in silico approaches.

METHODS

In vitro assays, denaturation of bovine serum albumin, egg protein, and human Red Blood Cells (RBCs) membrane stabilization were performed, using Piroxicam as standard. For in vivo assessment, Histamine (0.1 ml from 1% w/v) and Formaldehyde (0.1 ml from 2% v/v) were used to mediate inflammation. In silico molecular docking and network pharmacology were employed to probe the possible target genes mediating gastroprotective effect of β-Citronellol at 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg, using indomethacin-induced (25 mg/kg i.p) gastric ulcer in rats. Moreover, Gastric tissues were evaluated for morphological, histopathological, and bio-chemical analysis of PGE2, COX-I, COX-II, 5-LOX, eNOS, ICAM-1, oxygen-free radical scavengers (SOD, CAT), and oxidative stress marker (MDA).

RESULTS

β-Citronellol prevented denaturation of proteins and RBCs membrane stabilization with maximum effect observed at 6,400 µg/mL. Citronellol decreased rat's paw edema. Network pharmacology and docking studies revealed gastro-protective potential of Citronellol possibly mediated through arachidonic acid pathways by targeting COX-I, COX-II, PGE2, and 5-LOX. Citronellol reduced the ulcer indices, and histopathological changes. Further, β-Citronellol (50 and 100 mg/kg) increased gastric PGE2, COX-1, and eNOS; while suppressing COX-2, 5-LOX and ICAM-1. Citronellol markedly enhanced the oxidative balance in isolated rat stomach tissues.

CONCLUSIONS

The anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and gastro-protective effects of β-Citronellol against indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer model in rats through mediating COX-I, COX-II, PGE2, 5-LOX, eNOS, and ICAM-1 inflammatory markers.

Phytoconstituents with cardioprotective properties: A pharmacological overview on their efficacy against myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction (MI) is considered one of the most common cardiac diseases and major cause of death worldwide. The prevalence of MI and MI-associated mortality have been increasing in recent years due to poor lifestyle habits viz. residency, obesity, stress, and pollution. Synthetic drugs for the treatment of MI provide good chance of survival; however, the demand to search more safe, effective, and natural drugs is increasing. Plants provide fruitful sources for powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents for prevention and/or treatment of MI. However, many plant extracts lack exact information about their possible dosage, toxicity and drug interactions which may hinder their usefulness as potential treatment options. Phytoconstituents play cardioprotective role by either acting as a prophylactic or adjuvant therapy to the concurrently used synthetic drugs to decrease the dosage or relief the side effects of such drugs. This review highlights the role of different herbal formulations, examples of plant extracts and types of several isolated phytoconstituents (phenolic acids, flavonoids, stilbenes, alkaloids, phenyl propanoids) in the prevention of MI with reported activities. Moreover, their possible mechanisms of action are also discussed to guide future research for the development of safer substitutes to manage MI.

Effects of plant extracts and derivatives on cardiac K+, Nav, and Cav channels: a review

Natural products (NPs) are endless sources of compounds for fighting against several pathologies. Many dysfunctions, including cardiovascular disorders, such as cardiac arrhythmias have their modes of action regulation of the concentration of electrolytes inside and outside the cell targeting ion channels. Here, we highlight plant extracts and secondary metabolites' effects on the treatment of related cardiac pathologies on hERG, Nav, and Cav of cardiomyocytes. The natural product's pharmacology of expressed receptors like alpha-adrenergic receptors causes an influx of Ca2+ ions through receptor-operated Ca2+ ion channels. We also examine the NPs associated with cardiac contractions such as myocardial contractility by reducing the L-type calcium current and decreasing the intracellular calcium transient, inhibiting the K+ induced contractions, decreasing amplitude of myocyte shortening and showed negative ionotropic and chronotropic effects due to decreasing cytosolic Ca2+. We examine whether the NPs block potassium channels, particular the hERG channel and regulatory effects on Nav1.7.

Medicinal Plants in the Treatment of Myocardial Infarction Disease: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Myocardial infarction (MI), also referred to as a "heart attack," is brought on by a partial or total interruption of blood supply to the myocardium. Myocardial infarction can be "silent," go undiagnosed, or it can be a catastrophic occurrence that results in hemodynamic decline and untimely death. In recent years, herbal remedies for MI have become effective, secure, and readily accessible.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this review was to examine the medicinal plants and phytochemicals that have been used to treat MI in order to assess the potential contribution of natural substances to the development of herbal MI treatments.

METHODOLOGY

A literature search was employed to find information utilizing electronic databases, such as Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, Sci Finder, Reaxys, and Cochrane.

RESULTS

The identification of 140 plants from 12 families led to the abstraction of data on the plant families, parts of the plant employed, chemical contents, extracts, model used, and dose.

CONCLUSION

The majority of the MI plants, according to the data, belonged to the Fabaceae (11%) and Asteraceae (9%) families, and the most prevalent natural components in plants with MI were flavonoids (43%), glucosides (25%), alkaloids (23%), phenolic acid (19%), saponins (15%), and tannins (12%).

Curative potential of Populus ciliata Wall ex. Royle extract against adjuvant-induced arthritis and peripheral neuropathy in Wistar rats

Populus ciliata (PCCR) is traditionally used to treat muscular swelling, inflammation, pain, and fever. The current study was designed to validate the potential of aqueous ethanolic extract of the plant against inflammation, peripheral neuropathy, and pain in arthritic rats. The PCCR was chemically characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography. In vitro antioxidant, and in vitro anti-inflammatory assays were carried out on PCCR. For anti-arthritic potential, Wistar rats' rear paws were injected with 0.1 ml Complete Freund's Adjuvant using methotrexate (3 mg/kg/week) as standard control. PCCR at 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg was given orally to arthritic rats for 21 days. The PCCR exhibited significant inhibition of bovine serum albumin denaturation (IC-50: 202.1 µg/ml), egg albumin denaturation (IC-50:553.5 mg/ml) and RBC membrane stabilization (IC-50: 122.5 µg/ml) and antioxidant (IC-50 = 49.43 µg/ml) activities. The PCCR notably decreased the paw diameter and increased body weight of treated arthritic animals as equated to diseased control. The treatment notably (p < 0.05-0.0001) decreased malondialdehyde, and increased superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione, and catalase in the liver and sciatic nerve homogenate in compared to diseased rats. The PCCR treatment remarkably (p < 0.05-0.0001) regulated the levels of nor-adrenaline and serotonin in sciatic nerve in contrast to diseased rats. Treatment with PCCR improved the motor activity, pain, ligament degeneration, and synovial hyperplasia in arthritic rats. Moreover, PCCR significantly (p < 0.01-0.0001) decreased the IL-6 and TNF-α. It is evident from the current study that PCCR had ameliorated polyarthritis and peripheral neuropathy through reduction of inflammatory markers, and improvement of oxidative stress might be due to presence of phenolic acids, flavonoids, phytosterols, and other fatty acids.

Unveiling the Cardioprotective Power: Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS)-Analyzed Neolamarckia cadamba (Roxb.) Bosser Leaf Ethanolic Extract against Myocardial Infarction in Rats and In Silico Support Analysis

Neolamarckia cadamba (Roxb.) Bosser, a member of the Rubiaceae family, is a botanical species with recognized therapeutic properties. It is commonly used in traditional medicine to treat cardiac ailments and other disorders. However, the precise active constituents and the potential mechanisms by which they manage cardiovascular disorders remain unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to ascertain the bioactive components and investigate their underlying mechanisms of action. N. cadamba is used to treat cardiovascular disorders using the integrated metabolomic methodology. An HPLC-QTOF-MS/MS analysis determined the potential chemicals in the N. cadamba leaf ethanol extract (NCEE). A thorough investigation of the NCEE samples used in this study led to the identification of 32 phytoconstituents. Of the 32 compounds, 19 obeyed Lipinski's rule of five (RO5). A molecular docking study directed towards HMG-CoA reductase used 19 molecules. The reference drug atorvastatin indicated a binding energy of -3.9 kcal/mol, while the other substances, Cinchonain Ib and Dukunolide B, revealed binding energies of -5.7 and -5.3 kcal/mol, respectively. Both phytocompounds showed no toxicity and exhibited favorable pharmacokinetic properties. In vivo study results concluded that treatment with NCEE significantly reduced the cardiac myocardial infarction (MI) marker CK-MB and atherogenic risk indices, such as the atherogenic index plasma (AIP), cardiac risk ratio (CRR), and atherogenic coefficient (AC) in isoproterenol-induced MI rats. In MI rats, NCEE therapy significantly improved the antioxidant system of the heart tissue, as evidenced by the increased levels of GSH and SOD, lower levels of the oxidative stress marker MDA, and significantly decreased HMG-CoA activity. Additionally, electrocardiogram (ECG) signals from rats treated with NCEE resembled those treated with traditional atorvastatin to treat myocardial infarction. This study used H&E staining to show that administering NCEE before treatment reduced cardiac myocyte degeneration in rats with myocardial infarction, increased the presence of intact nuclei, and increased myocardial fiber strength. The potential cardioprotective effect observed in myocardial infarction (MI) rats treated with NCEE can be extrapolated from computational data to be caused by Cinchonain Ib.

Conocarpus lancifolius (Combretaceae): Pharmacological Effects, LC-ESI-MS/MS Profiling and In Silico Attributes

In folklore medicine, Conocarpus lancifolius is used to treat various illnesses. The main objective of this study was a comprehensive investigation of Conocarpus lancifolius leaf aqueous extract (CLAE) for its antioxidant, cardioprotective, anxiolytic, antidepressant and memory-enhancing capabilities by using different in vitro, in vivo and in silico models. The in vitro experimentation revealed that CLAE consumed an ample amount of total phenolics (67.70 ± 0.15 µg GAE/mg) and flavonoids (47.54 ± 0.45 µg QE/mg) with stronger antiradical effects through DPPH (IC₅₀ = 16.66 ± 0.42 µg/mL), TAC (77.33 ± 0.41 µg AAE/mg) and TRP (79.11 ± 0.67 µg GAE/mg) assays. The extract also displayed suitable acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory (IC₅₀ = 110.13 ± 1.71 µg/mL) activity through a modified Ellman's method. The toxicology examination presented no mortality or any signs of clinical toxicity in both single-dose and repeated-dose tests. In line with the cardioprotective study, the pretreatment of CLAE was found to be effective in relieving the isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial injury in rats by normalizing the heart weight index, serum cardiac biomarkers, lipid profile and various histopathological variations. In the noise-stress-induced model for behavior attributes, the results demonstrated that CLAE has the tendency to increase the time spent in the central zone and elevated open arms in the open field and elevated plus maze tests (examined for anxiety assessment), reduced periods of immobility in the forced swimming test (for depression) and improved recognition and working memory in the novel object recognition and Morris water maze tests, respectively. Moreover, the LC-ESI-MS/MS profiling predicted 53 phytocompounds in CLAE. The drug-likeness and ADMET analysis exhibited that the majority of the identified compounds have reasonable physicochemical and pharmacokinetic profiles. The co-expression of molecular docking and network analysis indicated that top-ranked CLAE phytoconstituents act efficiently against the key proteins and target multiple signaling pathways to exert its cardiovascular-protectant, anxiolytic, antidepressant and memory-enhancing activity. Hence, this artifact illustrates that the observed biological properties of CLAE elucidate its significance as a sustainable source of bioactive phytochemicals, which appears to be advantageous for pursuing further studies for the development of new therapeutic agents of desired interest.

Cardioprotective Effect of Flibanserin against Isoproterenol-Induced Myocardial Infarction in Female Rats: Role of Cardiac 5-HT2A Receptor Gene/5-HT/Ca2+ Pathway

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a life-threatening ischemic disease and is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Serotonin (5-HT) release during myocardial ischemia plays an important role in the progression of myocardial cellular injury. This study was conducted to investigate the possible cardioprotective effect of flibanserin (FLP) against isoproterenol (ISO)-induced MI in rats. Rats were randomly divided into five groups and were treated orally (p.o.) with FLP (15, 30, and 45 mg/kg) for 28 days. ISO was administered subcutaneously (S.C.) (85 mg/kg) on the 27th and 28th days to induce MI. ISO-induced myocardial infarcted rats exhibited a significant increase in cardiac markers, oxidative stress markers, cardiac and serum 5-HT levels, and total cardiac calcium (Ca2+) concentration. ISO-induced myocardial infarcted rats also revealed a remarkable alteration of electrocardiogram (ECG) pattern and significantly upregulated expression of the 5-Hydroxytryptamine 2A (5-HT2A) receptors gene. Moreover, ISO-induced myocardial infarcted rats showed significant histopathological findings of MI and hypertrophic signs. However, pretreatment with FLP significantly attenuated the ISO-induced MI in a dose-dependent manner, as the effect of FLP (45 mg/kg) was more pronounced than that of the other two doses, FLP (15 and 30 mg/kg). The present study provides evidence for the cardioprotective efficacy of FLP against ISO-induced MI in rats.

Pharmacological Justification for the Medicinal Use of Plumeria rubra Linn. in Cardiovascular Disorders

Plumeria rubra (L.) is a traditional folkloric medicinal herb used to treat cardiovascular disorders. The present investigation was methodically planned to investigate the pharmacological foundations for the therapeutic effectiveness of P. rubra in cardiovascular illnesses and its underlying mechanisms. Ex vivo vaso-relaxant effects of crude leaf extract of P. rubra were observed in rabbit aorta ring preparations. Hypotensive effects were measured using pressure and force transducers connected to the Power Lab data acquisition system. Furthermore, P. rubra displayed cardioprotective properties in rabbits when they were exposed to adrenaline-induced myocardial infarction. In comparison to the intoxicated group, the myocardial infarction model showed decreased troponin levels, CK-MB, LDH, ALT, ALP, AST, and CRP, as well as necrosis, apoptosis, oedema, and inflammatory cell enrollment. P. rubra has revealed good antioxidant properties and prolonged the noradrenaline intoxicated platelet adhesion. Its anticoagulant, vasorelaxant, and cardioprotective effects in both in vivo and ex vivo investigations are enabled by blocking L-type calcium channels, lowering adrenaline, induced oxidative stress, and tissue tear, justifying its therapeutic utility in cardiovascular disorders.