Abstract
BackgroundAfrica is blessed with rich floral biodiversity which are harnessed as herbal medicines and remedies for several ailments. Since there has been evidence of organ toxicity following prolonged ingestion of medicinal plant concotions, this study investigated the biochemical and hematological enhancement activities of aqueous and methanolic leaves, stem and roots extracts of Chasmanthera dependens (Hochst) and Dictyandra arborescens (Welw) in adult male albino rats.ResultsLeaves, stem and roots extracts of D. arborescens, as well as extracts of leaves and roots of C. dependens did not record any mice mortality even at 5000 mg/kg b.wt but extracts of C. dependens stem in both medium recorded death at 2900 mg/kg b. wt and 5000 mg/kg b.wt. Ingestion of the extracts by rats over a 14-day period increased (p < 0.05) the body weights of the experimental animals in the C. dependens and D. arborescens treated groups. The relative organ weights of rats that received the extracts did not differ (p < 0.05) significantly from those of the standard and normal control. Administration of the extracts revealed significant (p < 0.05) increase in haematological parameters (PCV, Hb, RBCs, WBCs, MCH, Neutrophils, Lymphocytes and MCHC) at 200 mg/kg−1 body weight. For biochemical parameters, levels of ALT, AST, ALP, total protein, and albumin were not significantly (p < 0.05) elevated following administration of the extracts.ConclusionThese parameters did not differ significantly from the normal and standard control. Since these extracts did not exhibit any chronic toxicity on experimental animals, suggesting no harmful effects following their use, their continuous use in ethno-medicine is therefore justified.
Highlights
Africa is blessed with rich floral biodiversity which are harnessed as herbal medicines and remedies for several ailments
Effects of the extracts on relative organ weights of albino rats The relative organ weights of the rats that received the various extracts of methanol and aqueous and extracts of C. dependens and D. arborescens did not significantly (p 0.05) differ from those of the control and standard groups (Table 2)
Effects of methanol and aqueous roots, leaves and stem extracts of C. dependens and D. arborescens on heamatological indices Results obtained in this study shows that hematological parameters in the albino rats (PCV, red blood cell count (RBC), white blood cell count (WBC), Hb, mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), Neutrophils, Lymphocytes, and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC)) significantly increased (p 0.05) on administration of 200 mg/ kg b. wt of methanol and aqueous extracts of roots, leaves and stem of Chasmanthera dependens and Dictyandra arborescens (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Summary
Africa is blessed with rich floral biodiversity which are harnessed as herbal medicines and remedies for several ailments. There has been evidence of organ toxicity following prolonged ingestion of medicinal plant concotions (Ahmad et al 2006), the patronage of medicinal plants and related products is still on the increase, due largely to the supposed availability, safety, and affordability (Bandaranayake 2006). This increasing patronage comes with rising tendencies of abuse, from indiscriminate uses of these plant- derived drugs. Following a resounding call for the integration of traditional medicine into the conventional modern medicine (Hosseinzadeh et al 2015), the determination and documentation of the safety/toxic risk potentials of these medicinal plants become a necessity
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