Cardio-protective Activities of Annona muricata Leaf Extract in Isoproterenol Myocardial Infarction-Induced Wistar Rats

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a severe heart condition characterized by impaired blood flow to the heart muscle, leading to tissue damage and dysfunction. Among different medicinal plants, Annona muricata is now becoming more attractive because of its therapeutic potentials, especially in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular related disorders, particularly myocardial infarction. Hence, this study was carried out to evaluate the cardio-protective activity of Annona muricata in isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction using animal model. Thirty (30) male wistar rats were randomly grouped into five classes (A, B, C, D and E) of six rats each. Groups A, B and C were orally pre-treated daily for fourteen (14) days with 100mg/kg, 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg of Annona muricata extract respectively. Group D was orally administered 10 mg of lisinopril (standard drug), this served as the positive control group while group E was orally administered 0.2 ml distilled water, and this served as the negative control group. All the rats were intraperitoneally induced with 150 mg of isoproterenol after fourteen days (two weeks) of pretreatment. Cardiac biomarkers (lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatinine kinase (CK-MB)), were measured to assess cardiac injury, using standard method while lipid bioassay such as high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and triglycerides (TG) were assayed using standard assay kits. Results showed that rats pre-treated with Annona muricata extract showed significant effect on cardiac biomarkers compared to the control group. Results further showed a significant increase (P<0.05) in low density lipoproteins (LDL) and triglyceride levels in a dose-dependent manner (100<200<400 mg/kg body weight) among the extract treated groups when compared to the untreated control group. This study has shown that extract of Annona muricata could help to mitigate cardiovascular diseases and could be used to produce plant based products to combat myocardial infarction, and consequently improving general wellbeing.