active ingredients. The seeds are used in Nigerian
traditional medicine, for therapy of broad spectrum of
ailments such as in dysentery and diarrhoea
diseases
(Braid 1992). There are claims, that traditional
medicine practitioners use
Garcinia kola
seeds for the
treatment of hypertension. There are also reports that
Garcinial kola
, reduce glutation concentration, and also
inhibits prostaglandin synthes
is (Makander 1986).
Garcinia kola
has a spamolytic effect on
gastronintestinal smooth muscle (Briad 1989). It
relaxes the smooth muscles of the uterus and
gastrointestinal tract. It has been reported to stimulate
Histamine dependent gastric acid secretion
(Oluwole
et
al
1992). Recently, the antithrombotic activity of GK
has been reported (Olajide 1999) and its antibacterial
effect on respiratory tract pathogens has also been
reported (Akoachere 2002). Elekwa et al 2003 reported
that aqueous extract of GK st
abilized the membranes of
HbAA, HbAS and HbSS human erythrocytes and
reduced blood viscosity. Also GK have been reported
to reduce body weight, reproductive organ weight and
inhibit spermatogenesis in male wistar rats (Naiho
2004).
However, no report has
been sighted on the effect
of
Garcinia kola
on blood pressure, vascular smooth
muscle and cardiac muscles. This work aims at
investigating the effect of
Garcinia kola
ingestion in
rats and its effect on the blood pressure.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Prepara
tion of Garcinia kola enhanced diets
Garcinia kila
seeds were bought from Uselu
market in Benin City. The seed coat was removed and
the seeds were dried in an oven at a temperature of
80
0
C, these seeds were weighed every 24 hours until a
constant weight w
as obtained. The seeds were then
grounded into powder.
Animal grouping and
experimentation
Fifteen Wister rats obtained from the Faculty of
Science Uniben and kept under normal environmental
conditions were divided into three groups A, B and C.
Groups A
rats had normal rat chow and water libitum
while group B rats had
Garcinia kola
diet (10% w/w)
made by mixing 90g of rat chow and 10g of
Garcinia
kola
. Group C rats had
Garcinia kola
diet (15% w/w)
made by mixing 85g of rat chow and 15g of
Garcinia
kola
.
Both groups had free asses to tap water. Their
blood pressure was monitored weekly for a period of 6
weeks with the aid of a non
-
invasive blood pressure
measuring device (rat
-
tail cuff equipment).
Plant Extraction
100g of GK powder was extracted with 3
00ml of a
2:1 mixture of chloroform and methanol using soxhlet
apparatus. At the end of extraction the extract was
concentrated, and solvent was totally evaporated in a
petri dish and a fine brownish powder was obtained.
Different concentration of crude e
xtract was made by
dissolving a known mass of extract in 10ml of a solvent
made up of 0.5ml of 70% ethanol and 9.5ml of distilled
water.
Rats for this second experiment, were kept under
environmental conditions and at room temperature, and
were fed norma
l rat chow and water ad libitum until
they attained an average of 185g of body weight.
Animal preparation
Rats were anaesthetized with thiopentone sodium
(100mg/kg b.wt), blood pressure (BP) and heart rate
(HR) was measured via a canula placed in the car
otid
artery connected through a force/pressure transducer to
a measuring device (Ugo Basil Italy). Solvent alone
was injected via jugular vein and BP and HR were
recorded, and used as control. Different doses of extract
were then injected and BP were recor
ded. During this
experiment normal saline was periodically infused to
compensate for loss of fluid.
Chemical Analysis
Phytochemical Analysis revealed that extract contains
Flavonoids, Tanins, Saponins, Biflavonoids and Resins.
Statistical Analysis
Stu
dent unpaired t
-
test was used to compare means and
p<0.05 was accepted as being statistically significant.
RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION
Table
1
, shows changes in Systolic Pressure (n=5).
Systolic blood pressure of treated groups reduced
significantly (p<0.05)
in the third week.
Table 2 shows
effect of graded dose of extract on Blood pressure and
heart rate of Wistar rats (n = 10).
Dose range of 1 g/kg
bwt produced a significant (p<0.05) fall in mean
arterial blood pressure and a significant (p<0.05)
increase i
n basal heart rate.
Table 3 shows effect of
cholinergic blockade (ACB) and Histaminergic
blockade (AHB), on blood pressure reducing effect of
Garcinia kola
extract.
The blood pressure lowering effect of several plant
materials have been investigated and d
ocumented, these
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