Background: Terminalia chebula is an ayurvedic drug recommended for the treatment of heart diseases. Earlier studies by the authors validated the beneficial cardioprotective effect of T chebula against isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction.
Objectives: To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of T chebula in protecting against isoproterenol-induced lysosomal membrane damage.
Methods: Lysosomal enzyme activities from the serum, heart and lysosomal fractions were determined. The triphenyltetrazolium chloride assay was used to confirm the protective effect of T chebula on the myocardium.
Results: Isoproterenol administration produced significant cardiac damage (as seen by the triphenyltetrazolium chloride assay) and significantly altered lysosomal enzyme activities. Pretreatment with an ethanol extract of T chebula was found to retain near normal activities of lysosomal enzymes in rats given T chebula or T chebula plus isoproterenol compared with rats given isoproterenol alone.
Conclusions: Pretreatment with T chebula extract stabilizes the lysosomal membrane and, thus, may have prevented myocardial damage.
Keywords: Isoproterenol; Lysosomes; Myocardial injury; Rats; T chebula.