034: HEMATOLOGIC EFFECT OF AVERRHOA BILIMBI (KAMIAS) ETHANOLIC FRUIT EXTRACT

Abstract

Background Clinical laboratories employ every the use of anticoagulant. The most common test is Complete blood count (CBC) testing which requires anticoagulant, EDTA. It is synthetically made and expensive (Dayaganon et al. 2014). Averrhoa bilimbi (kamias), contains oxalic acid (Daud et al. 2013), may be an alternative anticoagulant. Objectives The study deemed to examine the CBC results and microscopic assessment of blood treated with kamias ethanolic fruit extract (KEFE) (2 mg/mL, 3 mg/mL and 4 mg/mL), and EDTA-treated blood. Methods Significant difference of the means of CBC parameters were assessed. This is an experimental research wherein blood were collected from volunteers with normal CBC and no cardiovascular diseases. 16 specimens were tested. Result Macroscopic clotting time of the blood with KEFE showed no visible coagulation for concentrations of 3 mg/mL and 4 mg/mL even after 180 minutes of observation, while the blood with 2 mg/mL and blood without treatment showed a clot within 15 minutes. The results on CBC parameter showed significant difference only in platelet count between groups (p>0.000); and the rest of the parameters were insignificant. The microscopic evaluation of blood-stained smears were comparable to EDTA blood-stained smears. Conclusion Given with the results in this study, the KEFE exhibited anticoagulation activity with insignificant difference in the hematologic effects. The KEFE may be an alternative anticoagulant for CBC testing.