@article{Amaechina_Omogbai_Nworgu_Bafor_Ayinde_2022, title={Active Blood Pressure Lowering Fractions from the Aqueous Extract of the Leaves of Phyllanthus amarus Schum and Thonn (Euphorbiaceae): https://doi.org/10.51412/psnnjp.2022.23}, volume={56}, url={https://psnnjp.org/index.php/home/article/view/286}, abstractNote={<p><strong>Background: </strong>The blood pressure-lowering effffect of aqueous leaves extract of <em>Phyllanthus amarus </em>has been reported in earlier work in normotensive albino rabbits. The effffects of organic solvent fractions were evaluated in Wistar rats.</p> <p><strong>Methods: </strong>The aqueous fraction obtained from the crude extract of the leaves was evaluated for blood pressure-lowering effffect in anaesthetized normotensive Wistar rats, at the graded doses of 2.5-40 mg/kg after which it was subjected to vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) using combinations of chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol and water. This yielded eleven fractions which were bulked into six samples (A-F) after thin layer chromatograph analysis, and samples A, B and C were evaluated for activities on the blood pressure of hypertensive Wistar rats at the graded doses of 5 to 20 mg/kg. Fraction “C” showed the highest blood pressure lowering effffect and was further subjected to column chromatographic and VLC analysis, to obtain fraction (BVLC2) which was evaluated for possible blood pressure lowering effffect in hypertensive Wistar rats.</p> <p><strong>Results: </strong>The aqueous fraction caused a dose de pendent decrease in the blood pressure of normotensive Wistar rats, decreasing the mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) from a basal level of 104.58 ± 8.29 mmHg to 45.22 ± 6.71 mmHg (p<0.0001; 66.4%) at the dose of 40 mg/kg. Fraction “C” caused signifificant decrease in the MAPfrom 116.99 ± 10.28 mmHg to 68.33 ± 6.78 mmHg (p < 0.001; 0.01%) at the dose of 20 mg/kg, while the fraction BVLC2 decreased the MAPfrom 146.11 ± 8.29 mmHg to 79.33 ± 6.18 mmHg (***p< 0.001) at the dose of 10 mg/kg, indicating a trend of increasing potency along the course of purifification.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The aqueous fraction of the leaves of <em>Phyllanthus amarus </em>yielded column chromatographic sample (BVLC2), that might possibly serve as a lead sample from which pure active hypotensive constituent(s) could be isolated. </p>}, number={2}, journal={The Nigerian Journal of Pharmacy}, author={Amaechina, Fabian C. and Omogbai, Eric K. and Nworgu, Zuleika A. and Bafor, Enitome E. and Ayinde, Buminiyan A.}, year={2022}, month={Oct.} }