Acute and sub-chronic antihypertensive properties of Taraxacum officinale leaf (TOL) and root (TOR)

Abstract

Taraxacum officinale (T. officinale) is a leafy vegetable that is commonly used traditionally as a diuretic agent. In the current study, we aimed at exploring the potential antihypertensive effect of T. officinale using two animal models of hypertension. Acute and sub-chronic antihypertensive effects of TOL and TOR at 500 mg/kg/bwt were evaluated in spontaneously hypertensive rats and L-NAME-induced hypertensive rats, respectively. Wistar rats were treated daily with L-NAME (40 mg/kg/bwt) until they became hypertensive and were then allocated to various treatment groups: control, furosemide (10 mg/kg/bwt) TOL (500 mg/kg/bwt) and TOR (500 mg/kg/bwt) for 4 weeks. Blood samples were collected for determination of the lipid profile. Results showed that one-off oral administration of TOL and TOR significantly (p < 0.05) reduced systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure in the 2nd and 4th hours. In the sub-chronic study, TOL and TOR significantly (p < 0.05) prevented an increase in blood pressure throughout the period of treatment. However, TOL and TOR increased HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels in this study. T. officinale possesses antihypertensive effects with the aerial part most active at the used dosage which however, supports further development of the extract as a potential therapeutically useful natural antihypertensive agent.