| For generations people have been using plants to treat cardiovascular ailments. Cardiovascular disease is a serious problem in the world causing 18 million deaths worldwide. In this study I aimed to find potential new sources of cardiovascular drugs from a phylogenetic and pharmacological analyses of medicinally used plants obtained from the literature and have experimental and traditional cardiovascular applications. Pharmacological mechanisms of action of active phytochemicals were classified according to Klabunde's (2012) treatment. Out of 114 plant species in 58 plant families, 6 plant families with 26 species emerged as phylogenetically important exhibiting common cardiovascular mechanisms of action within the family, as would be expected given their common ancestry: Apiaceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, and Zingiberaceae. Apiaceae and Brassicaceae were found to be mainly used as diuretics; Fabaceae and Lamiaceae as thrombolytics; Malvaceae species as centrally acting sympatholytics, and Zingiberaceae members as calcium channel blockers. Though there were some species that did not show the same mechanism of action within the same family, the predictive utility of the phylogeny reveals that these species may contain undiscovered phytochemistry and bioactivity potentially exhibiting the same pharmacological mechanism. This may guide our efforts in discovering new cardiovascular drugs, in lieu of random assays that may be wasteful of time and effort. |
