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ABSTRACT
The use of plants and its extract have aided mankind in the treatment of ailments including infectious disease for many years . Terminalia catappa is a folklaric plant whose extracts have been used to treat metabolic and infectious diseases like diabetes, hypertension and conjunctivitis. This present study investigated phytochemistry, pharmacological and hypotensive effects of extracts of T.catappa. The study was carried out in three phases; Extraction and isolation of phytochemicals, phytochemistry profiling by Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectometry (GC-MS), and Exposure of methanol extracts of T.catappa to normotensive rats. The experimental set up comprised of a control group and 3 test groups exposed to methanol stem bark extract in doses 100, 200 and 300mg/kgrespectively. Cardiovascular parameters including Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP), Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP), Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) and heart rate were measured in conscious rats by tail cuff method using non-invasive blood pressure apparatus (NIBP) attached. Result revealed that GC-MS spectra of compounds found in the extracts were matched with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) library. Thirty nine compounds were detected including .beta.- sitosterol (18.03%), .gamma.-sitosterol (6.08%) and compesterol (5.84%) as the most predominant compounds. After three weeks of exposure of extracts to normotensive rats results reveal that there was a dose dependent increase in Systolic Blood pressure (SBP), Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) and Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP), although the increase was not significant when compared to control, the 300mg/kg dose produce an increase in SBP, DBP and MAP which increases by the week. There was also a significant decrease of heart rate in normotensive rats exposed to the 100mg/kg dose. The result revealed that the plant contains active compounds and may possess antihypertensive activity that is dosage and time dependent.
