摘要：Tomato, botanically known as Lycopersicon esculentum, is a food crop used throughout world in different cultures. Traditionally, various cardiovascular and inflammatory ailments are cured by fruit of this plant. But this has been done without any knowledge about its exact mechanism in these diseases, especially in thrombotic conditions. This study has been designed to investigate the potential mechanisms used by Lycopersicon esculentum fruit to provide relief in these diseases. A crude fraction of Lycopersicon esculentum fruits was prepared and then separated into n-hexane, chloroform and aqueous fractions. These fractions were screened for the presence of activities against arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism and agonist-induced human platelet aggregation. These fractions were also investigated for their potential to enhance the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Platelet aggregation was monitored using turbidometric principle, while AA metabolism was studied using radiolabelled AA. Antioxidant enzymes were measured by commercial kits using spectrophotometer. The aqueous fraction of Lycopersicon esculentum was mostly active against cyclooxygenase pathway of AA metabolism while chloroform was the only fraction possessing significant activity against lipoxygenase pathway. Aqueous and n-hexane fraction seem to have concentrated compounds responsible for elevating SOD activity while n-hexane was the most potent against PAF and the only fraction exhibiting potent activity against collagen-induced platelet aggregation. Compounds responsible for elevating GPx activity seems to be distributed throughout various fractions of tomato. The results demonstrate that anti-inflammatory and cardiovascular effects of Lycopersicon esculentum are mediated through multiple pathways. The compounds responsible for these pharmacological actions were however, distributed throughout various fractions of Lycopersicon esculentum.
