Effect of Chinese celery on blood pressure in desoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) hypertensive dogs

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the antihypertensive and diuretic action of celery (Apium Graveolens Linn.) in DOCA-salt animal model. Celery is a green vegetable, about 1 foot high, used for several food preparation and it is also believed for quite a long time that celery can be used as a folk antihypertensive and diuretic agent. Several experiments showed that celery decoction could bring down the blood pressure of normotensive animals and possessed diuretic effect. The antihypertensive effect of celery in DOCA-salt animal model have never been reported yet. In this present study, hypertension in experimental dogs was induced by injecting desoxycorticosterone acetate 5 mg/kg body weight subcutaneously three times a week and giving 1% NaCl plus 0.25% KCl solution as their drinking water for at least two-three weeks before the operation. Blood samples for electrolyte assay were collected before and after one weed and two weeks of DOCA injection. All animals were weigned twice a week. After at least two weeks of DOCA injection, each dog was operated in order to record blood pressure and urine volume simultaneously and continuously, then given celery decoction or distilled water orally. Celery was capable of reducing both systolic and diastolic blood pressure immediately and significantly. It also caused slightly more diuresis than water feeding though statistically non-significant. The mild diuretic effect of celery occurs late after the decrease in blood pressure. These results suggest that, the hypotensive mecnanism of celery is, at least in part, due to lowering of the total peripheral resistance, but does not correlate mainly with the diuretic effect.