Yarrow as a New Weapon against Hypertension

Ali Shalizar Jalali; Parisa Rahimzadeh

Yarrow as a New Weapon against Hypertension

Ali Shalizar Jalali and Parisa Rahimzadeh

Published Date: 2016-06-05

Ali Shalizar Jalali^1* and Parisa Rahimzadeh²

¹Department of Basic Sciences, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

²Department of Biology, Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran

Corresponding Author:: Ali Shalizar Jalali
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Histology and Embryology Research Laboratories
Department of Basic Sciences, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
Tel: 00984431942593
E-mail: ali_shalizar@yahoo.com; a.shalizar@urmia.ac.ir

Received Date: May 30, 2016; Accepted Date: June 05, 2016; Published Date: June 15, 2016

Citation: Jalali AS, Rahimzadeh P. Yarrow as a New Weapon against Hypertension. 2016. 2:1.

Copyright: © 2016 Jalali AS, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Editorial

Achillea millefolium, popularly known as “yarrow”, is a member of the Asteraceae family that has been used as medicinal herb by many cultures for over 3000 years [1]. The genus name Achillea may have been derived from the Achilles of Greek mythology, which was fictionalized to have had his wounds treated by topical use of this herb and species name millefolium is derived from the many segments of its foliage. Moreover, the ancient Europeans called it Herba Militaris due to its roles in curing battle wounds [2].

The pharmacological properties of Achillea millefolium are recognized worldwide and the plant is included in the national Pharmacopoeias of countries such as Germany, Czech Republic, France and Switzerland. Different preparations of Achillea millefolium have been shown to have antiinflammatory, antitumor, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective and anti-oxidant activities [3].

Recent researches have opened new windows toward more efficient therapeutic utilities of medicinal plants including yarrow. Interestingly, it has been shown that oral administration of Achillea millefolium hydro-ethanol extract and dichloromethane fractions exhibit hypotensive roles and reduce mean arterial pressure of normotensive rats may be through decreasing in vivo generation of angiotensin II [4]. Further, it has been reported that crude extract of Achillea millefolium causes dose-dependent falls in arterial blood pressure of rats under anaesthesia [5].

Based on aforementioned outstanding findings, it appears that Achillea millefolium could serve as a potential promising hypotensive and cardio-protective agent as well as high blood pressure related thrombotic conditions inhibitor. Undoubtedly, further studies are needed to verify safety and efficacy of yarrow in management of cardiovascular diseases in other species including humans.

References

Jalali AS, Hasanzadeh S, Malekinejad H (2012) Achilleamillefolium inflorescence aqueous extract ameliorates cyclophosphamide-induced toxicity in rat testis: stereological evidences. Chin J Nat Med 10: 247-254.
Karnick CR (1994) Pharmacopoeial Standards of Herbal Plants. Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi2: 150-152.
Jalali AS, Hasanzadeh S, Malekinejad H (2013) Beneficial effects of Achilleamillefoliumaqueos extract against cyclophosphamide-induced reproductive toxicity. J ExpIntegr Med 3: 113-119.
De Souza P, Gasparotto A Jr, Crestani S, Stefanello MÉ, Marques MC, et al. (2011) Hypotensive mechanism of the extracts and artemetin isolated from Achilleamillefolium L. (Asteraceae) in rats. Phytomedicine 18: 819-825.
Khan AU, Gilani AH (2011) Blood pressure lowering, cardiovascular inhibitory and bronchodilatory actions of Achilleamillefolium. Phytother Res 25: 577-583.