Evaluation of Cardiotonic Activity of Wedelia chinensis (Osbeck) Merr. Leaves

Cardiotonic drugs increases the force and rate of contraction of the cardiac muscles in conditions like congestive cardiac failure. But at the same time they produce cardiac arrest even with a slight increase in the dose. To overcome this problem the present attempt has been made to investigate the Cardiotonic activity of Wedelia chinensis (Osbeck) Merr, without producing cardiac arrest. The aqueous leaf extract was studied for preliminary phytochemical screening and found to have the presence of Cardiac Glycosides. The activity was performed on the isolated frog (Rana hexadactyla.sp) heart that was perfused with digoxin (0.1 ml, 0.2 ml, 0.4 ml) of 0.5 mg/ml and the aqueous extract of Wedelia chinensis (0.1ml, 0.2 ml, 0.4 ml) of 5mg/ml, and were evaluated for force and rate of contraction of cardiac muscles. From Kymograph record, it was observed that 0.4 ml (2mg) of test extract significantly increased the height of contraction without any cardiac arrest, compared to digoxin 0.4 ml (0.2 mg) which recorded cardiac arrest. From the above study, it can be observed that the aqueous extract of Wedelia chinensis leaves been found to have Cardiotonic activity without producing the cardiac arrest even at high dose when compared to marketed drug Digoxin. So this test drug can be a better alternative for the Cardiotonic drugs.