Cardio protective activities of n-hexane extract of desmodium velutinum stem on albino wister rat

Thesis Overview

<p> 1.0 INTRODUCTION<br>The heart is a hollow muscular, cone-shaped organ, lying between the<br>lungs in a block of tissue called the mediastinum (Khader, 2004). The heart<br>begins beating some few weeks following conception and beats throughout<br>life (Khader, 2004). It is also the strongest muscle in the human body and<br>functions to maintain a constant circulation of blood throughout the body, it<br>also acts as a pump and its action is composed of a series of events known as<br>the cardiac cycle. The heart is composes of three layers of tissue which are;<br>the pericardium, the myocardium and the Endocardium. The heart acts as a<br>pump which drives blood into and through the arteries, but the right and the<br>left side of the heart functions separately from one another some of the<br>diseases associated with the cardiovascular system includes coronary heart<br>diseases (CHD) which is the most common of heart diseases and it occurs<br>when the arteries supplying blood to the heart narrow or harden from the<br>build-up of plaque (Gina, 1996.),Ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular<br>disease( CeVD),peripheral vascular disease, Heart Failure etc and some of<br>the pharmacological treatment includes Angiotesin commonly prescribes<br>includes Benazepril, Captopril, Moexipril, Beta Blockers which includes,<br>Acebutolol, Betaxolol,etc.<br>The heart marker enzymes includes creatine kinasse(CK-MB)which is<br>the enzyme used as the definitive serum marker for the diagnosis or<br>exclusion of acute myocardial infarction (Andreas,2009).<br>Troponin 1 Rapid test which is a lateral flow chromatographic<br>immunoassay for the qualitative detection of cardiac Troponin<br>1(CTn1)and its complex in human serum or plasma at the level equal or<br>higher than 1ng/ml. Myoglobin which is also designed for qualitative<br>determination of myoglobin in human whole blood serum or plasma as<br>an aid in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction (MI) and myoglobin is<br>also a low molecular weight cytoplasm protein which is released into the<br>blood stream when muscle cells are damaged and this protein is released<br>into the blood stream more rapidly than any other myocardial marker<br>and elevated levels can be detected as early as one (1) hour after the<br>onset of AMI(Penttila,2002). Demodium velutinum has been suggested<br>to have some therapeutic effect in the treatment of cardiovascular<br>disorder and in the reducing of high cholesterol content in the body.<br>Demodium Velutinum is one of the few shrubs species that has been<br>identified as a well adapted to acid tropical soil and a good nutritive<br>value(Schultze-Kraft, 2002).Every culture has relied on the variety of<br>natural medicines found in healing plants for the therapeutic properties<br>(Armstrong,2004).Researchers find that food and their individual<br>constituents perform similar fashion to modern drugs and sometimes<br>better without the dreaded side effect. The leaves and young stems are<br>rich in crude protein and mineral elements and can provide higher levels<br>of some nutrient (Bakker, 1994). Natural plants have been valuable<br>sources of mineral agent with proven potential of treating infectious<br>diseases and with lesser side effects compared to the synthetic drug<br>agents(Guyton, 2002).Hence potentially useful drugs can often be<br>recognized from their relative importance and uses in folk medicine.<br>Extract of Desmodium velutinum stem are used traditionally in some<br>diseases condition particularly headache and may be a source of a<br>pharmacological active agent useful in the treatment of aches and<br>pain(Anowi,2012). This work aimed at investigating any<br>hypocholesterolemic activity in the N-hexane extract of Desmodium<br>Velutinum stem. <br></p>