Cardiovascular and Neuromuscular Actions of Scopoletin from Fruit of Tetrapleura tetraptera

Abstract

The cardiovascular and neuromuscular actions of scopoletin have been investigated in some laboratory animals. Pharmacological examination showed that it possessed depressor (hypotensive) effects in anaesthetized rats, produced negative chronotropic and inotropic responses on guinea-pig isolated atria, inhibited acetylcholine-induced contractures of the toad rectus abdominis muscle, and depressed or abolished electrically-evoked twitches of the chick isolated biventer-cervicis muscle or rat isolated phrenic-nerve hemidiaphragm muscle preparations. The pharmacological actions of scopoletin on the various organsystems examined were resistant to the actions of specific antagonists such as atropine and physostigmine. The pharmacological implications of these findings and plausible mechanism(s) of action of scopoletin are discussed.

Key Word Index

Tetrapleura tetraptera - Coumarin - Scopoletin - Hypotensive (depressor) effect - Negative chronotropic and inotropic actions - Neuromuscular-blokking activity - Non-specific spasmolytic agent