Abstract

Background: Hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is often managed with antihypertensive drugs. Medicinal plants are commonly used to control hypertension, and many studies assess their antihypertensive effects using the rat mesenteric vascular bed model.

Objective: This paper aims to highlight the value of the rat mesenteric vascular bed as a pharmacological model for evaluating the vascular effects of medicinal plants with traditional antihypertensive properties.

Methods: We reviewed 55 articles published between 1980 and 2022, using Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases, focusing on medicinal plants studied in the rat mesenteric vascular bed. Furthermore, we conducted a computational evaluation of the main vasorelaxant phytochemicals derived from these plants.

Results: We identified 63 species from 36 plant families evaluated in the mesenteric artery. Most of these plants showed varying degrees of vasorelaxation due to vasorelaxant phytochemicals. The mechanisms of vasorelaxation include angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition, L-type voltagegated calcium channel blockade, and activation of muscarinic (M3), and adrenergic (β2) receptors. These experimental findings were supported by computational studies, which confirmed the potent antihypertensive effect.

Conclusion: The rat mesenteric artery remains a valuable model for studying the vascular effects of plants and for developing new antihypertensive drugs.

Keywords: Mesenteric vascular beds, medicinal plants, rat, antihypertensive effect, vasorelaxation, computational studies.