EVALUATION OF ANTI-HYPERTROPHIC POTENTIAL OF CAMELLIA SINENSIS IN ISOPROTERENOL INDUCED CARDIAC HYPERTROPHY

Objective: Camellia sinensis (C. sinensis family-Theaceae) has potent antioxidant activity used in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. The present study evaluates the cardioprotective (anti-hypertrophic) effect of aqueous extract of C. sinensis in isoproterenol (ISO) induced cardiac hypertrophic rats.Methods: The beneficial effect of the green tea extract was examined by the administration of the aqueous extract of the leaves of C. sinensis (100 mg/kg b.w., oral., 7 d) in ISO (10 mg/kg b.w., subcutaneous.,7 d) induced cardiac hypertrophic rats with reference to the standard drug, losartan (50 mg/kg b.w., oral.,7 d) followed by biochemical estimations of glucose, protein, cholesterol, cardiac marker enzymes namely serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in serum and heart tissues thus collected at the end of 7 d.Results: The biochemical assays revealed significantly (P<0.05) increased glucose, protein, cholesterol, cardiac marker enzymes namely serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and significantly (P<0.05) decreased in ISO induced cardiac hypertrophic rats that were reciprocated by the effect of plant extract.Conclusion: Thus, this study showed that the aqueous leaf extract of C. sinensis possesses potent effect against cardiac hypertrophy. This potential is hypothesized to be due to the phytochemical, Catechin present in the plant that requires further isolation and characterization with respect to anti-hypertrophic therapeutics