Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology, 2013, 4, 29-36 ABB doi:10.4236/abb.2013.41005 Published Online January 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/abb/ ) Chilean crude extract of Ruta graveolens generates vasodilatation in rat aorta at cellular subtoxic concentrations Ignacio Jofré Fernández 1 , Patricia Navarrete Gómez 1,2 , Jorge Parodi 3* , Fernando Romero Mejía 1 , Raúl Salvatici Salazar 1 1 Center of Neurosciences and Peptides Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile 2 Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Neurobiology Institute, Campus Juriquilla-Querétaro, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico 3 Laboratorio de Fisiología de la Reproducción, Núcleo de Producción Alimentaria, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Facultad de Recursos Naturales, Universidad Católica de Temuco, Temuco, Chile Email: * jparodi@uct.cl Received 1 October 2012; revised 10 November 2012; accepted 7 January 2013 ABSTRACT In Chile elevated percentage of population have car- diovascular diseases, 70% of this populations is a hy- pertensive peoples. The Ruta graveolens (Ruta) is a medicinal plant used in different parts of the world with different therapeutics properties like derma- tologic as far as anti-helmintic properties. We ana- lyzed the vascular action measuring the tension to identify vasodilator effect of Ruta extract in norm- tense rat’s aorta incubated and measured in isolated organ bath, and evaluating the toxicity effect in CRL-1730 cell line, through enzymatic assay (MTT), confocal microscopy (propidium iodide stain) and flow cytometry (TUNEL assay), including extracellu- lar reactive oxygen species (ROS) production through luminescence assay. The results show with DE 50 29 ± 0.1 μg/mL evidenced vasodilatation, partially endo- thelium-depend. The cytotoxicity showed with DE 50 304.6 ± 2 μg/mL in enzymatic assay (MTT) while evi- denced membrane permeability in high concentra- tions (1500 µg/mL), DNA fragmentation in absence of oxidative stress in only observed when high concen- trations of Ruta are used over the cell culture. The vasodilatation activity is executed in subtoxic concen- tration and partially endothelium-depend without permeability effect in the membrane and deteriora- tion of the cells viability suggesting a complex effect of Ruta preparation in the regulation of vascular tone. Keywords: Vasodilatation; Ruta graveolens; Toxicity, Endothelium 1. INTRODUCTION For most people, a blood pressure above 140/90 is con- sidered as hypertension, the upper number, the systolic pressure, is the highest pressure in the arteries when the heart beats and fills the arteries. The lower number, the diastolic pressure, is the lowest pressure in the arteries when the heart relaxes between beats [1]. In Chile, the hypertension prevalence increased from 18.6% in 1988 to 21.7% in 2004. This occurred in all age groups and in both genders. The state of awareness remained stable: 66.9% in 1988 and 66.6% in 2004. The state of treatment increased from 35.6% (1988) to 59.9% (2004), and the state of hypertension control from 7.5 to 30.7%, re- spectively [2], between the 2009 and 2010, 11.92% of the population, have a high and 2.5% very high risk of acquire a cardiovascular disease. Hypertension is a life- style-related disease and dietary modifications are effec- tive for its management and prevention. In the last time, the feeding is essential in the therapy of hypertension. The medicinal plants have been used by indigenous communities since time immemorial. Plants has been used for the control of hypertension or reporting vasodilator effect, like Nige sativa seeds [3], Olea europaea in patients with stage-1 hypertension [4] and Ginko biloba [5], with properties of regulation of arterial pressure. Ruta is a medicinal plant introduce to Chile from Europe, used in the non-traditional medicine. In several reports, Ruta has been described like, anti- inflammatory [6], antibacterial [7], antifungal [8], for eyestrain-induced headache [9]. It has also been used as compound for gastric disorders, stiff neck, dizzi- ness and headache [10], however vascular effects are not described. * Corresponding author. Published Online January 2013 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/abb