Brillantaisia

Abstract: DIRHAMNOSYL FLAVONOID AND OTHER CONSTITUENTS FROM Brillantaisia palisatii. A mixture containing sitosterol and stigmasterol; a new triterpene 3-epi-ursolic acid; another triterpene mixture comprising α-amyrin, β-amyrin and lupeol; verbascoside, a phenylpropanoid glycoside; and lespedin, a glycosyl flavonoid, were isolated. The less polar compounds (steroids and triterpenoids) were isolated from the hexane partition of the crude ethanolic extract while the more polar ones (phenylpropanoid glycoside and glycosyl flavonoid) were isolated from the ethyl acetate partition of the same extract. The structures of all compounds were established using modern spectrometric methods of elucidation. The spectroscopic data of Lespedin, a rare dirhamnosylflavonol with hypotensor activity and of the triterpene, 3-epi-ursolic acid, are also reported.

Abstract: Summary Brillantaisia nitens Lindau (Acanthaceae) is traditionally used in Cameroon for the treatment of many diseases including cardiovascular disorders. We have studied the effect of the methylene chloride/methanol (CH2Cl2/CH3OH) leaf extracts of B. nitens on rat arterial blood pressure and heart rate in normotensive wistar rats (NTR), salt laoded hypertensive rats (SLHR), DOCA-salt hypertensive rats (DSHR) and L-NAME hypertensive rats (LNHR), using the direct cannulation method. Intravenous (i.v.) administration of the plant extract (5-80 mg/kg) resulted in a biphasic dose-related hypotensive effect. At the dose of 10 mg/kg, the extract produced a rapid decrease of systolic blood pressure (SBP) by 14%, 16%, 14% and 23% in NTR, SLHR, DSHR and LNHR, respectiveley. In the same animal models, the dose of 40 mg/kg caused decreases of 39%, 26%, 20%, and 34%, respectively. The immediate fall of SBP induced by the plant