Hepatic response in <i>Trypanosomia brucei brucei</i> infected-rats treated with ethanol leaf extract of <i>Tithonia diversifolia</i>

Abstract

Ethanol leaf extract of Tithonia diversifolia was investigated for its hepato-curative activity in Trypanosoma brucei brucei infected-rats. The phytochemical compositions of the plant extract were also evaluated. The leaf extract was administered 14 days post-infection at dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg orally once daily. Quantitative phytochemical analysis reveals high concentration of terpenoids, alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids and tannins. Lethal dose (LD 50 ) of the extract to be equal to or greated than 5000 mg/kg. The in-vivo parasitaemia showed significant ( p <0.05) reduction on day 3, 7 and 14 of treatment compared with day 0 of treatment. All the T. brucei brucei infected-rats treated with diminazen aceturate and varing doses of the extract showed significant ( p <0.05) reduction in parasitaemia count compared with with the infected- rats control. The infected rats treated with 400 mg/kg b.w of the extract showed higher percentage parasitaemia suppresion rate (60%) compared with those treated with 200 mg/kg b.w of the extract (44.74%). Serum enzyme level showed significant ( p <0.05) decrease in plasma AST, ALT and ALP activity of infected and treated with 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight of the leaf extract compared with the normal control rats. The histological study showed normal lobules with normal hepatocytes arranged regulating interconnecting cords around the central veins in the infected-rats treated with 200 and 400 mg/kg of theextract compared with the liver histo-architecture ofinfected rat administered distilled water which showed moderate to severe hepatitis and random widespread multi-focal areas of coagulative necrosis. The findings suggests ethno-pharmacological usefulness of the plant and necessitate futher study toisolate the active anti-trypanosomal compounds in the plant. Keywords: hepato curative, phytochemical, LD50, histological, ethno pharmacology