Ninety-day oral toxicological profiling of Kolaviron (an extract of Garcinia kola) in male and female rats

Abstract

There remains an insufficiency of data on the long-term toxicological profile of Garcinia kola Heckel and its extract, Kolaviron (KV), despite several studies on its pharmacological effects. This research was designed to investigate the long-term histopathological, hematological, biochemical, hormonal, reproductive, and oxidative effects of 90 days administration of KV to male and female rats, as well as additional 30 days reversibility study to assess the potential for reversal of induced effects. Fifty-six male and female Wistar rats divided into four groups were treated orally with distilled water/propylene glycol, 20 mg/kg KV, 100 mg/kg KV, and 500 mg/kg KV for 90 days. At the end of 90 days and 30 additional days of reversibility study, 5 ml blood was collected from animals for relevant analyses. Vital organs were harvested for histopathological assessments. In this study, KV did not elicit any adverse effect on histopathological presentations of vital organs which were generally non-abnormal. There was significant increase (p < 0.05) in LEU, MON, EOS%, BAS%, HCT (male animals) and LYM%, EOS%, BAS%, RBC, hemoglobin and MCH (female animals). There was significant diminution (p < 0.05) in cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, and VLDL levels, with significant increase (p < 0.05) in HDL level in both male and female animals. KV elicited a non-significant increase in sperm count accompanied by a significant increase (p < 0.05) in levels of Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone in male rats. Furthermore, KV elicited significant (p < 0.001–0.05) elevation in the levels of GSH, SOD and CAT, and diminution in the level of MDA. The findings in this study suggest that long-term administration of KV is considerably safe with some variations in response between male and female animals. The possible sustenance of observed effects after cessation of KV administration, lipid lowering, erythropoiesis inducing, and immune system boosting activities of KV were confirmed in this study.