The effect of Marrubium vulgare on contractile reactivity of aorta in diabetic rats

Background: the incidence of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases increases in diabetes mellitus patients. therefore, the effects of a two-month oral administration of marrubium vulgare (mv) on contractile reactivity of isolated aorta in an experimental model of diabetic rats were evaluated in the present study. methods: male wistar rats (n = 44) were randomly divided into control, mv-treated control, diabetic, and mv-treated diabetic groups. for induction of diabetes, streptozotocin (stz) was intraperitoneally administered (60 mg/kg). mv-treated groups received mv mixed with standard pelleted food at a weight ratio of 1/15. after 2 months, contractile reactivity of aortic rings to potassium chloride (kcl) and noradrenaline was determined using isolated tissue setup. results: serum glucose levels showed significant increases in the diabetic group at 4th and 8th weeks (p < 0.001), while this increase was not observed in mv-treated diabetic group at the8th week. in addition, the latter group showed a lower contraction to kcl (p < 0.05) and noradrenaline (p < 0.05) as compared to the diabetic group. meanwhile, there was nosignificant difference between the control and mv-treated control groups regarding contractile reactivity. conclusion: it can be concluded that oral administration of mv for 2 months couldattenuate the contractile responsiveness of the vascular system which may prevent the development of hypertension in diabetic rats.