English

Abstract

Haematological indices provide crucial information to assessing the well-being of an organism. In this present study, the antihaematotoxic effect of Phyllanthus amarus leaf extract on Salmonellae typhi–induced haematotoxicity in rats were investigated. The experimental animals were randomly divided into three study groups. Group 1 received feed and water and was not induced with typhoid (negative control). Groups 2 and 3 received, in addition to feed and water, single dose of stock S. typhi at a concentration of 106 cfu/ml. After 7 days, Widal test confirmed typhoid infection and rats in Group 2 were not treated with the leaf extract but rats in Group 3 were treated with 750 mg/kg body weight ethanol extract of P. amarus for 10 days at the end of which animals were sacrificed and blood obtained for haematological indices using standard laboratory methods. In Group 2 (positive control), there were significant (P < 0.05) decrease in red blood cell (RBC) count, packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), neutrophils and increase in platelet, total white blood cell (WBC) and lymphocytes relative to the non-induced negative control. In Group 3, the rats recorded a significantly (P < 0.05) higher mean values in RBC count, PCV, Hb, MCH, MCV, MCHC and lower values in platelets, WBC and lymphocytes when compared to the S. typhi induced positive control (Group 2). The results suggest that treatment of S. typhi infection with ethanol extract of P. amarus reverses and ameliorates the haematotoxic effects induced by S. typhi infection in rats. Key words: Salmonellae typhi, Phyllanthus amarus, Blood cells, antihaematotoxic, rats.