Planta Med 1995; 61(2): 106-112
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-958026
Papers

© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Yangambin: A New Naturally-Occurring Platelet-Activating Factor Receptor Antagonist: In Vivo Pharmacological Studies

Hugo C. Castro-Faria-Neto1 , Claudia V. Araújo1 , Shiela Moreira1 , Patricía T. Bozza1 , George Thomas2 , José M. Barbosa-Filho2 , Renato S. B. Cordeiro1 , Eduard V. Tibiriçá1
  • 1Departamento de Fisiologia e Farmacodinâmica, Institute Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Av. Brasil 4365, C.P. 926, 21045-900 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 2Laboratório de Tecnologia Farmacêutica, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Paraíba, Brazil
Further Information

Publication History

1994

1994

Publication Date:
04 January 2007 (online)

Abstract

The pharmacological profile of a novel specific platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor antagonist - yangambin - isolated from the Brazilian plant Ocotea duckei Vattimo (Lauraceae), was investigated in the pentobarbitone-anaesthetized rabbit. The i.v. administration of PAF (0.03 - 3.0 µg kg-1) induced marked but reversible hypotensive effects and mild reductions in the heart rate. Both effects are independent of the respiratory conditions imposed on the animals. Moreover, PAF (3.0 µg kg-1, i.v.) induced a reversible decrease of the circulating levels of platelets and of polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Pretreatment with yangambin (10 and 20 mg kg-1, i.v.) dose-dependently attenuated PAF-induced cardiovascular changes and thrombocytopaenia. Nevertheless, the neutropenic leukopaenia elicited by PAF (3.0 µg kg-1, i.v.) was not prevented by yangambin whereas the reference PAF antagonists WEB 2086 (2 mg kg-1, i.v.) and SR 27417 (1 mg kg-1, i.v.) significantly inhibited the phenomenon. The hypotensive effects of acetylcholine, histamine, and 5-hydroxytryptamine were not affected by prior administration of yangambin. It is concluded that yangambin is a selective antagonist of the cardiovascular effects of PAF which could be useful in pathological states characterized by abnormal PAF release, such as anaphylactic and septic shocks. Furthermore, yangambin might discriminate a PAF receptor subtype present in the cardiovascular system and platelets from the one existing in polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the rabbit.