Antihypertensive Activity of Ethanolic Extract of Morinda citrifolia Linn. (ရဲယို) Fruits on L-NAME Induced Hypertensive Rat

Khine Khine Lwin*, Khin Phyu Phyu, Phyu Phyu Win, Myint Myint Khine, San San Myint, Nu Nu Win, Than Myat Htay & Mie Mie Thaw

Myanmar Health Sciences Research Journal, Vol. 37, No. 1-3, 2025

Morinda citrifolia Linn. fruit has been traditionally used to treat hyper- tension in India and Myanmar traditional medicines for many years.
This study was performed to determine antihypertensive activity of
Morinda citrifolia Linn. fruits in N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (L-NAME) induced hypertensive rats. Phytochemical constituents and acute toxicity of the fruits were also investigated. Acute toxicity study of 95% ethanolic extract of the fruits in albino mice was done according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop- ment (OECD) 423 guideline. Hypertension was induced in adult albino rats by oral administration of L-NAME (20 mg/kg) daily for 2 weeks. The rats were divided into six groups with six rats in each. Group 1 (Normal control group) was given distilled water orally. Group 2 (hypertensive control group) received L-NAME (20 mg/kg) body weight orally. L-NAME (20 mg/kg) and 3 different doses of 95% ethanolic extracts of the fruits (1 g/kg, 2 g/kg and 4 g/kg) body weights were given orally to Group 3, 4, 5 respectively. Group 6 received L-NAME (20 mg/kg) and standard drug, amlodipine (10 mg/kg b.w) orally.

Hypertension is a serious medical condition that significantly increases the risks of heart, brain, kidney and other diseases. An estimated 1.13 billion people worldwide have hyper- tension, most (two-thirds) living in low and
middle-income countries. Hypertension is a major cause of premature death worldwide.¹ There are different types of antihypertensive drugs  for  clinical  use  and these drugs have

side effects. 

Study design and place of study

Study design was laboratory based experi- mental animal study. Place of the study
was in Pharmacology Research Division, Department of Medical Research.

Plant materials and preparation for plant extraction

Morinda citrifolia Linn. mature unripe fruits were collected from Yangon Region and identified by the Botanist from Botany Department, Yangon University. The fruits were washed with tap water and air dried in the shade. Air dried fruits were made into powder by using grinding machine. Digestion method was used for extraction for dried powder of the fruits as stated in Extraction Technologies for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ICS,UNIDO) (2008).¹¹ Hundred gram of the dried fruits powder was put into
5 L conical flask and 1 L of 95% ethanol was added. The flask was put on 70°C water bath for 6 hours for extraction. Then, it was cooled down to room temperature. The mixture was filtered through filter paper and the filtrate
was evaporated by using water bath at
90°C to get dried 95% ethanolic extract.¹¹

It was reported that oral single dose, acute toxicity study of Morinda citrifolia Linn. dried fruit powder on female rats showed no
toxic effects and lethality. No-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) was more
than 2 g/kg body weight.²¹ In this study, acute toxicity study of 95% ethanolic extract
of Morinda citrifolia Linn. fruits showed
that the extract had no toxic effect and lethality in mice up to maximum dose
of 5 g/kg. Therefore, LD₅₀ of the extract was greater than 5 g/kg.

The authors declared no conflict of interest.