RESUMO
The plant Melothria maderaspatana (MME) has been used traditionally as antihypertensive and has been proven scientifically to possess high antioxidant and hepatoprotective activity. The present study has been designed to investigate the antihypertensive effect of ethanolic extract of MME leaves on sham-operated and uninephrectomized DOCA-salt-induced hypertensive male albino Wistar rats. A midscapular incision was made on each rat and the left kidney was excised after ligation of the renal artery. The surgical wound was closed using a suture. After one week recovery period, hypertension was induced by subcutaneous injection of DOCA-salt solution, twice a week, and the rats received a 1% sodium chloride solution as drinking water throughout the experimental period. After 6 weeks injection of DOCA-salt, systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure was significantly elevated as compared with sham-operated control. Treatment with MME significantly decreased theblood pressure. Thus, the results show that MME possesses antihypertensive activity in DOCA-salt hypertensive rats.
