Antioxidant and vasorelaxant effects of aqueous extract of large cardamom in L-NAME induced hypertensive rats

ABSTRACT

Purpose

The present work aimed to study the effect of aqueous extract of large cardamom (AELC) to prevent vascular remodeling and oxidative stress in N^ω-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)-induced hypertension.

Method

Male Wistar rats were administered with L-NAME 40 mg/kg/day for 28 days by oral gavage. The treatments included captopril (20 mg/kg/day) or AELC (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg/day) along with L-NAME administration.

Results

L-NAME treated rats showed high systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure, decreased nitric oxide level, increased level of malondialdehyde in plasma, heart, aorta and kidney, hypertrophy of the vascular wall and reduced vascular response to acetylcholine in phenylephrine-precontracted aorta. Treatment with AELC markedly reduced the blood pressure, restored the nitric oxide level, reduced the malondialdehyde level, alleviated the hypertrophy in L-NAME-induced hypertensive rats. Additionally, it also improved the vascular response to acetylcholine in phenylephrine pre-contracted aorta.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our results demonstrate the preventive effect of AELC in L-NAME-induced hypertensive model, which is possibly related to antioxidant activities and restoration of nitric oxide level.

KEYWORDS:

• Large cardamom
• l-NAME
• hypertension
• nitric oxide

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the management of Amrita School of Pharmacy for the support in all aspects and Spices Board of India for providing the large cardamom as a gift sample.

Disclosure statement

We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication.

Ethics Statements

The animal protocol was approved by the Institutional Animal Ethical Committee (IAEC) of Central Lab Animal Facility, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi (Approval number: IAEC/2017/3/7). The animals were maintained in accordance with the guidelines of Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision on Experimental Animals (CPCSEA).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by research grant from Spices Board of India, NH-Bypass, Sugandha Bhavan, Palarivattom P.O., Kochi, India.