Abstract & Overview
Coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction are major global health issues, with myocardial infarction becoming more common. In the current study, the cardioprotective effects of methanol extract from the aril of the Blighia sapida fruit were assessed in relation to certain cardiac function biomarkers, endogenous antioxidant activity, and the pathology of the heart in Wistar rats that had undergone isoprenaline-induced myocardial infarction. Phytochemical screening was according to methods described by Trease and Evans. The LD50 of the extract was calculated using Lorke’s approach. The LD50 was calculated using nine (9) Wistar rats. For cardioprotective and antioxidant activities, six groups of seven Wistar rats each were formed from forty-two (42), which were divided at random. Group 1 were administered 1ml of normal saline daily, group 2 through 4 were pretreated with 250 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg, and 750 mg/kg of the extract, respectively, for 28 days. Group 5 were administered 85 mg/kg of isoprenaline on days 26 and 27, 24 hours apart to cause myocardial infarction. Group 6 served as the positive control (pretreated with 2 mg/kg carvedilol for 28 days). The plant contains bioactive substances like alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols, cardiac glycosides, cyanogenic glycosides, steroid glycosides, cardenolides, terpenes, and tannins. No mortality even at a dose of 5000mg/kg. Glutathione peroxidase, reduced glutathione, catalase, and superoxide dismutase all show considerable increases. Total troponin, troponin c, troponin I, creatine kinase, creatine kinase-MB, and myoglobin, significantly decreased when compared to the isoprenaline group. Additionally, there was a significant drop in the levels of some biochemical markers in the extract treated groups compared to the isoprenaline control. Total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, and ALT, AST, and ALP significantly decreased. Histological analysis revealed some degree of cardiac modification and a notable improvement. According to the data, the extract contains modest antioxidant and cardioprotective characteristics