Originally Posted by reverett123

1: J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2005 Jan;45(1):74-80.

Ginger lowers blood pressure through blockade of voltage-dependent calcium
channels.

Ghayur MN, Gilani AH.

Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, The Aga Khan University Medical
College, Karachi, Pakistan.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe), a well-known spice plant, has been used
traditionally in a wide variety of ailments including hypertension. We report
here the cardiovascular effects of ginger under controlled experimental
conditions. The crude extract of ginger (Zo.Cr) induced a dose-dependent (0.3-3
mg/kg) fall in the arterial blood pressure of anesthetized rats. In guinea pig
paired atria, Zo.Cr exhibited a cardiodepressant activity on the rate and force
of spontaneous contractions. In rabbit thoracic aorta preparation, Zo.Cr relaxed
the phenylephrine-induced vascular contraction at a dose 10 times higher than
that required against K (80 mM)-induced contraction. Ca2+ channel-blocking (CCB)
activity was confirmed when Zo.Cr shifted the Ca2+ dose-response curves to the
right similar to the effect of verapamil. It also inhibited the phenylephrine (1
microM) control peaks in normal-Ca2+ and Ca2+-free solution, indicating that it
acts at both the membrane-bound and the intracellular Ca2+ channels. When tested
in endothelium-intact rat aorta, it again relaxed the K-induced contraction at a
dose 14 times less than that required for relaxing the PE-induced contraction.
The vasodilator effect of Zo.Cr was endothelium-independent because it was not
blocked by L-NAME (0.1 mM) or atropine (1 microM) and also was reproduced in the
endothelium-denuded preparations at the same dose range. These data indicate that
the blood pressure-lowering effect of ginger is mediated through blockade of
voltage-dependent calcium channels.


PMID: 15613983 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]