Allamanda cathartica leaves do not contain cardioactive glycosides

ABSTRACT Allamanda cathartica, a plant used in traditional medicine for different purposes, has been considered a cardiotoxic plant. However, the alleged cardiac glycoside was not further studied. Thus, the present study aimed to determine whether the leaves of A. cathartica contain any cardioactive glycosides. The search for cardioactive glycosides in the leaves of A. cathartic was carried out in two parts: the first was the screening of cardioactive glycosides by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the second was the analysis of the plant extract by the Legal reaction and thin-layer chromatography (TLC) with development using Kedde's reagent. The present study did not find any cardioactive glycoside in the leaves of A. cathartica. This plant probably does not promote significant cardiotoxic effects.