A pharmacological study on Berberis vulgaris fruit extract

Berberis vulgaris fruit (barberry) is known for its antiarrhythmic and sedative effects in Iranian traditional medicine. The effects of crude aqueous extract of barberry on rat arterial blood pressure and the contractile responses of isolated rat aortic rings and mesenteric bed to phenylephrine were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of ethnopharmacology Vol. 102; no. 1; pp. 46 - 52
Main Authors:	Fatehi, Mohammad, Saleh, Tarek M., Fatehi-Hassanabad, Zahra, Farrokhfal, Khadige, Jafarzadeh, Mostafa, Davodi, Samaneh
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 31-10-2005 Elsevier
Subjects:	Animals aorta Berberidaceae Berberis Berberis vulgaris Berberis vulgaris fruit Berberis vulgaris var, asperma bioassays Biological and medical sciences blood pressure Blood Pressure - drug effects chemical constituents of plants Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ethnobotany Fruit - chemistry fruits (plant anatomy) General pharmacology Heart Rate - drug effects herbal medicines Hypertension Male Medical sciences medicinal plants medicinal properties muscle contraction Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food Pharmacology. Drug treatments Phenylephrine - pharmacology plant extracts Plant Extracts - pharmacology Potassium Channels - drug effects Potassium currents Rat Rats Rats, Sprague-Dawley Tachycardia traditional medicine Vascular contractility Vasoconstriction - drug effects Iran Hypertension Tachycardia Rat Berberidaceae Berberis vulgaris fruit Vascular contractility Potassium currents Fruit Pharmacognosy Rodentia Contractility Cardiovascular disease Berberis vulgaris Extract Inorganic element Medicinal plant Vertebrata Mammalia Dicotyledones Animal Angiospermae Plant origin Spermatophyta Potassium
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Summary:	Berberis vulgaris fruit (barberry) is known for its antiarrhythmic and sedative effects in Iranian traditional medicine. The effects of crude aqueous extract of barberry on rat arterial blood pressure and the contractile responses of isolated rat aortic rings and mesenteric bed to phenylephrine were investigated. We also examined effect of the extract on potassium currents recorded from cells in parabrachial nucleus and cerebellum rejoins of rat brain. Administration of the extract (0.05–1 mg/100 g body weight of rat) significantly reduced the mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate in anaesthetized normotensive and desoxycorticosteron acetate-induced hypertensive rats in a dose-dependent manner. Concentration–response curves for phenylephrine effects on isolated rat aortic rings and the isolated mesenteric beds in the presence of the extract were significantly shifted to the right. Application of the extract (1–50 μg/ml) shifted the activation threshold voltage to more negative potentials, leading to an enhancement in magnitude of the outward potassium current recorded from cells present in rat brain slices of parabrachial nucleus and cerebellum. This effect on potassium current may explain the sedative and neuroprotective effects of barberry. The present data support the hypothesis that the aqueous extract of barberry has beneficial effects on both cardiovascular and neural system suggesting a potential use for treatment of hypertension, tachycardia and some neuronal disorders, such as epilepsy and convulsion.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0378-8741 1872-7573
DOI:	10.1016/j.jep.2005.05.019