Maryam Rameshrad, Haleh Vaez, Negisa Seyed Toutounchi, Fatemeh Fathiazad, Alireza Garjani*
Abstract
Background: Methanolic extract of Marrubium crassidens Boiss
has potent antioxidative effects and can have cardio-protective effects on
Ischemia/Reperfusion (I/R) injuries in heart. Methods: The
extract was prepared by maceration. The isolated rat hearts were perfused by
Krebs-Henseleit solution enriched with the extract (0, 10, 50, and 100µg/ml),
using the langendorff method. After 15 minutes stabilization, the hearts
subjected to 30 minutes regional ischemia and then 120 minutes reperfusion.
During the experiments hemodynamic functions were recorded and cardiac
arrhythmias were determined. At the end, the infarct size was measured. Results: The extract at
100µg/ml caused a significant reduction in the number of ischemia and
reperfusion induced ventricular-ectopic-beats (P<0.05). The extract
at 100µg/ml also remarkably (P<0.001) reduced the number of
ischemic ventricular tachycardia (VT). The incidence of ischemic VT was reduced
from 100% in the control group to 20% in the group treated with 100 µg/ml (P<0.01).
The infarct size was 70.74±10.35% in the control group whereas, perfusion of
ischemic hearts with the extract (10, 50µg/ml) reduced the size to 19.11±6.26 (P<0.001)
and 25.27±3.89% (P<0.01), respectively. Conclusions: M.
crassidens has protective effects against I/R injuries in isolated rat
hearts and the protective effects could be related to antioxidative activities of the extract.