The ex vivo effects of selected silymarin flavonolygnans on isolated rat aorta

Charles University Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology Student: Tatiana Sloukgi Supervisor: PharmDr. Jana Pourová, Ph.D. Title of Diploma Thesis: The effect of Silymarin Flavonolignans and their sulfated conjugates on blood vessels ex vivo. Silymarin flavonolignans have recently shown some positive effects on the cardiovascular system. In this work, we studied the vasodilatory effect on rat aorta ex vivo of three silymarin conjugates, silybin A-20-sulfate, silybin B-20-sulfate and 2,3- dehydrosilychristin-19-O-sulfate, and one parent flavonolignan 2,3- dehydrosilychristin. For each substance, a concentration response curve was created and the concentration that produces 50% of maximum relaxation was determined (EC50). All substances exerted very low or no vasodilatory activity. Finally, we focused on the mechanism of action of silybin A. We tested whether its vasorelaxant activity depends on the presence of intact endothelium. The vasorelaxant effect of silybin A on isolated rat aorta ex vivo was clearly endothelium-dependent