1 Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Niger Delta University
2 Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Bayelsa Medical University, Imgbi
3 State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Drug Discovery, and Design Center, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai -201203, China
Hypertension is afflicting millions worldwide. The present study investigated in vitro anti-hypertension of Heinsia crinita targeting cardiac arginase in experimental and in silico analysis. The methanolic extract of H. crinita was subjected to gas chromatography flame ionization detection (GC-FID); Total antioxidant capacity (TAC), DPPH antiradical and inhibition of lipid peroxidation were analyzed. Cardiac arginase inhibitory activity was experimented in vitro, also selected tannins from GC-FID chromatography were docked into the active pocket of cardiac arginase PDB: 4HWW. The experimental data reveal tannins, steroids, phenols, flavonoids and saponins. Quantitative phytochemical detected were alkaloids, flavanol, flavonoid, phenols and tannins. Also, the total antioxidant capacity in H. crinita was 25.33±0.57 μg ascorbic acid equivalent per gram (AAE/g) the extract of H. crinita revealed the following tannins: geranin, epigallocatechin gallate, agrimoniin, punicalagin, praecoxin, amongst others. H. crinita displayed antioxidant and antiradical properties. It also inhibited cardiac arginase in dose dependent fashion. The molecular docking results revealed that punicacortein, grenatin a and b, castalin, praecoxin a and punicalagin show better binding affinity of -6.48, -6.29, -4.94, -5.16, -5.53 and -5.16 kcal/mol respectively. In conclusion H. crinita extract can be used for the management of cardiac arginase related hypertension.