title: Studies on two polyherbal formulations (ZPTO and ZTO) for comparison of their antidyslipidemic, antihypertensive and endothelial modulating activities.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiovascular disorders (CVDs) are the leading cause of disease burden worldwide. Apart from available synthetic drugs used in CVDs, there are many herbal formulations including POL-10 (containing 10 herbs), which have been shown to be effective in animal studies but POL-10 was found to cause tachycardia in rodents as its side effect. This study was designed to modify the composition of POL-10 for better efficacy and/or safety profile in CVDs.
  
  
  METHODS
  To assess the antidyslipidemic, antihypertensive and endothelial modulatory properties of two herbal formulations, (ZPTO and ZTO) containing Z: Zingiber officinalis, P: Piper nigrum, T: Terminalia belerica and O: Orchis mascula, different animal models including, tyloxapol and high fat diet-induced dyslipidemia and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were used. Effect on endothelial function was studied using isolated tissue bath set up coupled with PowerLab data acquisition system. The antioxidant activity was carried out using DPPH radical-scavenging assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on preliminary screening of the ingredients of POL-10 in tyloxapol-induced hyperlipidemic rats, ZPTO and ZTO containing four active ingredients namely; Z, P, T and O were identified for further studies and comparison. In tyloxapol-induced hyperlipidemic rats, both ZPTO and ZTO caused significant reduction in serum triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC). In high fat diet-fed rats, ZPTO decreased TC, low-density lipoproteins cholesterol (LDL-C) and atherogenic index (AI). ZTO also showed similar effects to those of ZPTO with additional merits being more effective in reducing AI, body weight and more importantly raising high-density lipoproteins. In SHR, both formulations markedly reduced systolic blood pressure, AI and TG levels, ZTO being more potent in reversing endothelial dysfunction while was devoid of cardiac stimulatory effect. In addition, ZTO also reduced LDL-C and improved glucose levels in SHR. In DPPH radical-scavenging activity test, ZTO was also more potent than ZPTO.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The modified formulation, ZTO was not only found more effective in correcting cardiovascular abnormalities than ZPTO or POL-10 but also it was free from tachycardiac side-effect, which might be observed because of the presence of Piper nigrum in ZPTO.
authors.forename: Nauman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aziz
authors.forename: Malik Hassan
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Mehmood
authors.affiliation: Natural Product Research Division, Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, The Aga Khan University Medical College, Karachi 74800, Pakistan. anwarhgilani@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Anwarul-Hassan
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Gilani
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D001011:Aorta / Q000187:drug effects; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000187:drug effects; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000187:drug effects*; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism; D057847:Lipid Regulating Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000633:toxicity; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014661:Vasoconstriction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D000975:Antioxidants; D001786:Blood Glucose; D057847:Lipid Regulating Agents; D008055:Lipids; D010936:Plant Extracts; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; C016811:tyloxapol