Study of in vitro alterations in human blood by aqueous extract of Bauhinia forficata leaves commercialized in Argentine

Abstract

Among the numerous plants of medicinal interest is Bauhinia forficataLink, which belongs to the Fabaceae family. Its leaves, branches and roots are widelyused in Brazil and Argentina in the form of herbal infusions and otherphytotherapeutic preparations for the treatment of various diseases, such as diabetes.The glycemic reduction ability of this medicinal plant was demonstrated in several invitro studies, using both rats and human models. Although the composition of thisplant was identified, little is known about the pharmacological activity of most of theisolated substances. In this work, we present an evaluation of the rheologicalalterations in human blood by in vitro treatment with aqueous extracts (infusion andmaceration) of B. forficata. Our results show that, in low concentrations, nohemolysis is observed, erythrocyte deformability and AChE enzyme activitydecreased for the extract that received high temperature in their preparation. Theanalysis of the hemorheologic effects of the two different plant extracts can beconsidered a fundamental tool to assess their hemocompatibility and the possibility ofusing them to reverse some of the alterations observed in vascular processes,particularly in diabetes.