Abstract:
Ethnopharmacological relevance: Buddleja saligna Willd (Loganiaceae), mostly indigenous to South Africa is traditionally
used in the treatment cardio-dysfunctional related ailments amongst other diseases.
Aims: The cardio-protective effect of B. saligna was investigated in ferric-induced oxidative cardiopathy.
Methods: Hearts harvested from healthy male SD rats were incubated with 0.1mM FeSO4 to induce oxidative
damage and co-incubated with B. saligna extract. Reaction mixtures without the extract served as negative
control, while tissues without the extract or standard antioxidant (gallic acid) and pro-oxidant served as the
normal control. The tissues were analyzed for levels of glutathione, malondialdehyde, and nitric oxide as well as
cholinergic, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), lipase, and purinergic enzymes activities, lipid profiles, fatty
acid metabolic pathways and metabolites.
Results: Induction of oxidative damage significantly (p < 0.05) depleted the levels of GSH, SOD, catalase, and
ENTPDase activities, while concomitantly elevating the levels of MDA, NO, ACE, acetylcholinesterase, lipase and
ATPase activities. These levels and activities were significantly reversed on treatment with B. saligna. Treatment
with B. saligna also led to depletion of cardiac cholesterol and LDL-c levels, while elevating triglyceride and HDLc
level. It also depleted oxidative-induced lipid metabolites with concomitant generation of thirteen other metabolites.
B. saligna also inactivated oxidative-induced pathways for beta oxidation of very long chain fatty acids,
glycerolipid metabolism, and fatty acid elongation in mitochondria.
Conclusion: These results suggest that B. saligna protects against ferric-induced oxidative cardiopathy by mitigating
oxidative stress, while concomitantly inhibiting ACE, acetylcholinesterase and lipase activities, and
modulating lipid spectrum and dysregulated metabolic pathways.
