Medicinal Plants of South Africa with Reported Anti-hypertensive Activity

Anti-hypertensive refers to substances or treatments that are used to lower high blood pressure. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a common condition where the force of blood against the walls of the arteries is consistently too high. Over time, untreated hypertension can lead to serious health problems such as heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.

Anti-hypertensive medicinal plants work to help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of complications associated with hypertension. These herbs may act on the heart, blood vessels, or kidneys to decrease blood pressure.

In South Africa’s traditional medicine a number of plants are used to address blood pressure, below is a list of herbs extracted from the research paper “A Review of Plants Used in South African Traditional Medicine for the Management and Treatment of Hypertension”, that are useful for hypertension.

Research Paper: A Review of Plants Used in South African Traditional Medicine for the Management and Treatment of Hypertension
Authors: Fatai Oladunni Balogun, Anofi Omotayo Tom Ashafa
Published: Published online November 26, 2018 | Planta Med 2019

Table 2 Medicinal Plants with Reported Anti-hypertensive Activity

Name	Pharmacological activities	Pharmacological activities	Pharmacological activities	Assay	Method(s)/ inducing agent	Part(s) used	Medium for extraction	Conc. tested	Province(s) or location	References
Antioxidant,		Antidiabetic	Antihypertensive, type(s) cardiovascular
Acokanthera oppositifolia	Antioxidant			In vitro	DPPH, ABTS, FRAP	Stem	Methanol	0.1 mg/mL	Eastern Cape	[112]
Adenopodia spicata			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI assay	Leaves, root	Aqueous, ethanol	25 µg/mL	KZN	[34]
Aganpanthus africanus			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI assay	Leaves, root	Aqueous	25 µg/mL	KZN	[34]
Agathosma betulina	Antioxidant			In vitro	ABTS, DPPH	Leaves	Hot water, DCM	1, 3, 5, 10, 20 µg/mL	Pretoria	[113]
		Antidiabetic		In vitro	α-amylase, α-glucosidase
	Antioxidant			In vivo	ORAC, TEAC, FRAP		Aqueous, ethanol, acetone		Cape Town	[114]
Agave americana			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI assay	Leaves	Aqueous, ethanol	25 µg/mL	KZN	[34]
Alepidea amatymbica			Antihypertensive, cardiovascular, diuretic	In vivo	Sodium thiopentone (rats model)	Rhizome	Hexane, methanol, DCM	20 mg/kg body weight	KZN	[38, 115]
Amaranthus dubius			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI	Leaves	Aqueous, methanol	0.1 g/mL	KZN	[18]
Amaranthus hybridus			ACE inhibitory activity	In vitro	ACEI	Leaves	Aqueous, methanol	0.1 g/mL	KZN	[18]
Artemisia afra		Antidiabetic		In vivo	STZ-induced rat model	Leaves	Aqueous	50, 100, 200 mg/kg	Eastern Cape	[116]
			Cardioprotection	In vivo	ISP	Leaves	Aqueous	100, 200 mg/kg	Eastern Cape	[117]
Asystasia gangetica			Antihypertensive	In vitro and	ACEI	Leaves	Aqueous and methanol	0.1 g/mL	KZN	[18]
				In vivo	Sodium pento- barbitone		Aqueous	10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400 mg/mL	Western Cape	[46]
Carpobrotus dimidiathus	Antioxidant			In vitro	DPPH, FRAC	Leaves	Aqueous methanol (50 %)	10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 µg/mL	KZN	[108]
Catha edulis			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI assay	Leaves	Aqueous, ethanol	25 µg/mL	KZN	[34]
Citrus lemon	Antioxidant			In vitro	DPPH, nitric oxide, reducing power,	Peel of fruits	Ethanol, acetone	0.025, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 ug/mL	Eastern Cape	[54] continued
Clausena anisata			Antihypertensive	In vivo	HRM	Leaves	Aqueous	50, 100, 200, 400 mg/bw	Limpopo	[59]
		Antidiabetic		In vivo	STZ- rat model	Roots	Methanol	100, 200, 400, 800 mg/kg bw	KZN	[58]
Crinum macowani			Cardiovascular	In vivo	Normotensive rats	Whole plants	Aqueous	0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20 mg/kg	Western Cape	[62–63]
Dicoma anomala	Antioxidant	Antidiabetic		In vivo	STZ-rat model	Root	Aqueous	125, 250, 500 mg/kg	Free State	[118]
			Cardioprotection	In vivo	ISP‑rat	Root	Aqueous	same	Same	[119]
Dietes iridioides			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI assay	Leaves, root	Aqueous	25 µg/mL	KZN	[34]
Dombeya rotundifolia			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI assay	Leaves, root	Aqueous	25 µg/mL	KZN	[34]
Ekeberghia capensis			Cardiovascular, vasorelaxant, bradycardia	In vivo	Inactin- induced normoten- sive rats and Dahl salt stress rats	Leaves	Ethanol	18 mg/kg i. v. and 120 mg/kg p.o	KZN	[120]
Euclea undulata		Hypoglycemic		In vitro	α-amylase, α-gluco- sidase, glucose uptake (GU)	Whole plant	Acetone	50 µg/mL and 16–250 µg/mL GU	Gauteng (Pretoria)	[120]
				In vivo	STZ-rat model	Bark	Acetone	50, 100 mg/kg b.w	Gauteng (Pretoria)	[121]
Hypoxis hemerocallidea			Cardiovascular, anti- hypertensive	In vitro	Isolated muscle experiment	Fresh corm	Aqueous	12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400 mg/mL	KZN	[75]
				In vivo	Sodium 5-ethyl- (1-methylbutyl)-2- thiobarbiturate- induced Dahl salt- stress rats	As above	Same as above	25, 50, 100, 200, 400 mg/kg b.w	KZN	[75]
Justicia flava			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI assay	Leaves	Aqueous, methanol	0.1 g/mL	KZN	[18]
Pentanissia prunelloides	Antioxidant			In vitro	DPPH, Superoxide anion, Hydroxyl radical, Metal chelating	Root	Aqueous, ethanol, hydro-ethanol (1 : 1), hexane	6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100 µg/mL	Free State	[129]
		Antidiabetic		In vitro	Alpha (amylase and glucosidase)
Physalis viscosa			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI	Leaves	Methanol, aqueous	0.1 g/mL	KZN	[18]
Protorhus longifolia	Antioxidant			In vitro	DPPH, ABTS, metal chelating, Reducing power	Bark	Hexane, chlorofum, ethyl acetate, methanol, aqueous	0–5 mg/100 mL	KZN	[89]
			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI	Leaves	Aqueous, ethanol	25 µg/mL	KZN	[34]
Psidium guaįava		Hypoglycemic	Hypotensive	In vivo	STZ-induced rats and Dahl salt-stress rats	Leaves	Aqueous	50, 100, 200, 400, 800 mg/mL	KZN	[93]
Rauvolfia caffra	Antioxidant			In vitro	FRAP, DPPH,	Stem, bark	DCM, methanol, ethyl acetate, ethanol	1 mg/mL	Limpopo	[96]
			Antihypertensive	In vivo	Spontaneously hypertensive rats	Whole plants	DCM, methanol, ethyl acetate	15, 300, 500 mg/kg b.w
Rhus chirindensis			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI	Leaves	Aqueous, ethanol	25 µg/mL	KZN	[34]
Sclerocarya birrea		Hypoglycemic		In vivo	STZ	Stem-bark	Aqueous	25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 mg/mL	KZN	[100]
			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI	Leaves	Aqueous, ethanol	25 µg/mL	KZN	[34, 101]
				In vivo	Dahl salt sensitive rats	Stem bark	Aqueous	25, 50, 100, 200, 400 mg/mL	KZN
Senecio serratulloides	Antioxidant			In vitro	DPPH, FRAC	Leaves	Aqueous methanol (50 %)	10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 µg/mL	KZN	[112]
Stangeria eriopus			Antihypertensive	In vitro	ACEI	Leaves	Aqueous, ethanol	25 µg/mL	KZN	[34]
Trichilia emetica	Antioxidant			In vitro	DPPH	leaves	Aqueous, methanol		Gauteng	[130]

ACEI: angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor; STZ: streptozotocin; ABTS: 2, 2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6)-sulphonic acid; DPPH: 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl; FRAC: ferrous-reducing antioxidant capacity;
ORAC: oxygen radical absorbance capacity; TEAC: Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity; ISP: isoproterenol; DCM: dichloromethane; KZN: KwaZulu-Natal

Reference:

Fatai Oladunni Balogun, Anofi Omotayo Tom Ashafa: A Review of Plants Used in South African Traditional Medicine for the Management and Treatment of Hypertension – Published online: 2018-11-26

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