A review of Moroccan Medicinal Plants Used in the Treatment of Hypertension

Abstract

The incidence of hypertension is very high in human societies and its treatment is the most important priority in many countries. Knowledge of the plants that are used may provide insight on their properties, for further exploration. This study aimed to collect the knowledge on traditional medicine for the treatment of hypertension in different regions of Morocco. We reviewed 145 research publications based on data from the six explored regions of Morocco published until August 2021 in various journals. This was achieved using literature databases: Google, Google Scholar, PubMed, Medline, Science Direct and Researchgate. The findings of this study indicated that 23 plants have been reported to possess antihypertensive activities in in vivo / in vitro experiments, while 81 plants had not been studied for such an activity. Plants from the Lamiaceae, Asteraceae and Apiaceae families were used most often. Leaves were the plant parts used most often. Decoction was the main preparation method. Twenty three plants have been explored experimentally for their antihypertensive activity. This review provides baseline data for plant species used to treat hypertension in Morocco and provides new areas of research on the antihypertensive effect of these plants.