Cassiae semen: A review of its phytochemistry and pharmacology

Dong, Xiaoxv; Fu, Jing; Yin, Xingbin; Yang, Chunjing; Zhang, Xin; Wang, Wenping; Du, Xueying; Wang, Qingling; Ni, Jian

Hypotensive activity. Aqueous and ethanol extracts of Cassiae semen have been reported to possess hypotensive effects (101). Koo et al (101) reported that the water extract of C. tora seeds (3.75, 7.5, 15, 30, 60 and 250 mg/kg) consistently reduced arterial blood pressure in anesthetized rats. A potential reflex mechanism of this hypotensive action may involve a vagal reflex, which reciprocally inhibits the peripheral vasomotor tone via a reflex reduction in the sympathetic neural outflow to blood vessels (102) . In addition, the media portion of the medullary reticular formation has been revealed to be directly involved in the hypotensive effect of C. tora seeds (103) . Furthermore, the ethanol extract of Cassiae semen significantly decreased blood pressure in hypertensive rats by inhibiting receptor-controlled calcium channels on vessels and regulating the secretion of nitric oxide and inducible nitric oxide synthase (104) .