Ipomoea hederacea Jacq.: A plant with promising antihypertensive and cardio-protective effects

Seeds of Ipomoea hederacea Jacq. (family: Convolvulaceae) are traditionally used to treat high blood pressure and cardiac diseases. Aim of the study: Present study was conducted to validate the traditional claim and explore the possible mechanism(s) of antihypertensive effects of I. hederacea. Aqueous-ethanolic extract and activity based fractions of I. hederacea were evaluated using invasive blood pressure measuring technique, isolated tissue experiments, fructose induced hypertension/metabolic syndrome and biochemical analysis.Phytochemical analysis of active fraction was performed with aim to identify chemical composition of I. hederacea seeds. LC-MS analysis was also performed to identify the compounds proposed to be present in active fraction of I. hederacea seeds. Crude extract/fractions of I. hederacea showed dose (0.01–100 mg/kg) dependent significant hypotensive effect in normotensive anesthetized rats, similar to verapamil (0.01–30 mg/kg). Pretreatment with hexamethonium and atropine mediated no significant changes in hypotensive effect of butanol fraction of I. hederacea (Ih.Bn) at 3 mg/kg dose. However, a significant decrease in the hypotensive effect of Ih.Bn 3 mg/kg (−34.82 ± 3.36%; p