[Observations on the anti-aging, antihypertensive and antihyperlipemic effect of Apocynum venetum leaf extract].

The effect of Apocynum venetum leaf extract on hypertension, hyperlipemia, SOD content of erythrocyte, platelet aggregation rate, pulse wave transmission time (RP interval) and human diploid cell was studied to evaluate if it has some anti-aging effects. The mean BP in 60 cases of the treated group decreased from 171 +/- 19/98 +/- 11 mmHg to 154 +/- 22/91 +/- 10 mmHg and 148 +/- 17/89 +/- 10 mmHg after treatment for 4 and 8 weeks (P less than 0.01). The HDL-C in 40 cases of hyperlipemia increased from 47.5 +/- 13 mg% to 63.9 +/- 18 mg% (P less than 0.01). These results were better than those in the control groups. delta RPF was lengthened from 10.1 +/- 6.0 ms to 15.3 +/- 7.3 ms, which indicated that the cardiac performance was improved. No significant change of platelet aggregation rate was obtained after 5-8 weeks treatment. The retarding effect on cell aging was observed by the morphologic changes of nucleus and the increase of subcultivation from 77 to 80 generations. SOD content of erythrocyte was significantly increased from 546.1 +/- 51 micrograms/gHb to 574.6 +/- 42 micrograms/gHb in 20 cases. So Apocynum venetum leaf extract might have some anti-aging effects.