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. 2021 Nov;29(11):1258-1266.
doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2021.10.002. Epub 2021 Oct 19.

Development of a quantified herbal extract of hawthorn Crataegus mexicana leaves with vasodilator effect

Christian Ornelas-Lim  1 , Francisco J Luna-Vázquez  1 , Alejandra Rojas-Molina  1 , César Ibarra-Alvarado  1
Affiliations

Development of a quantified herbal extract of hawthorn Crataegus mexicana leaves with vasodilator effect

Christian Ornelas-Lim et al. Saudi Pharm J. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) has been used for the treatment of several heart diseases and hypertension. The studies carried out on several hawthorn species have led to the development of standardized extracts useful in the cure of mild chronic cardiac diseases. In Mexico, the most common Crataegus species are C. mexicana and C. gracilior. Decoctions prepared from the fruits and leaves of these species have been employed to the treat respiratory diseases, tachycardia and to improve coronary blood flow. Considering that to date there are no reports of the use of Mexican Crataegus species to treat cardiovascular diseases, we propose an analytical method to obtain a quantified extract of Crataegus mexicana leaves for the development of a standardized extract with therapeutic value in cardiovascular diseases as an alternative source to the extracts obtained from Crataegus species of European and Asian origin. Therefore, the aim of this study was to obtain an extract prepared from C. mexicana leaves with the highest vasodilator activity to select the optimal chemical marker to stablish and validate a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RPHPLC-DAD) analytical method for obtaining a quantified extract with vasodilator effect. The results obtained from the analytical method validation, which was carried out according to the guidelines stablished in the Eurachem Guide and the ICH guidelines proved that the RPHPLC-DAD method we developed was specific, precise, accurate, and showed good linearity over the concentration range of 3 - 21 µg/ml for (-)-epicatechin and rutin, which were selected as chemical markers.

Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Crataegus mexicana; Quantified extract; Validation; Vasorelaxant effect.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Concentration-response curves of the vasodilator effect induced by the crude extracts obtained from C. mexicana leaves: AMWAc, AcMA, EtOH, MeOH (abbreviations are described in section 2.3.1); ACh: acetylcholine (positive control).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
HPLC-DAD chromatograms obtained from standard mix (red) and the methanolic extract of C. mexicana leaves (black). 1) Chlorogenic acid 2) (-)-epicatechin 3) Rutin.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Chromatograms obtained at 280 nm from AWAc(a), AMWAc (b), EtOH (c), MeOH (d) (abbreviations, see the text) extracts from C. mexicana leaves batch 2019, ethanolic extract and methanolic extract obtained from C. mexicana leaves batches 2018 (e) and 2016 (f). 1) (-)-epicatechin 2) Rutin.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Content of (-)-epicatechin and rutin in the different extracts evaluated obtained from three different batches of Crataegus mexicana leaves.
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