Abstract
There is an intense search for new plant-derived medicines to match the ever increasing prevalence of drug resistance. Toxicity profiles of three commonly used plants against helminthosis in Uganda will support their optimum use. Objective: To evaluate the sub-acute toxicity of aqueous leaf extracts of Tephrosia vogelii (TV), Vernonia amygdalina (VA) and Senna occidentalis (SO). Methods: One hundred Wistar white albino rats in 10 groups were dosed orally daily with 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg of TV, VA and SO for 28 days or Goodwin’s physiological solution. Daily changes in behaviour, feed/water intake and weight (weekly) were monitored. On day 29, blood for haematology, serum for biochemical analysis and organs (lungs, liver, kidney, heart and small intestines) for histopathology were collected. Results: Continued exposure of rats to 600 mg/kg doses of SO and VA extracts led to elevation of ALT, AST and ALP and cholesterol in the treatment groups. SO and VA at 600 mg/kg elevated urea and uric acid; depressed bilirubin while VA and TV 600 mg/kg caused the reverse. Histopathology findings (villi sloughing, pneumonitis, liver and kidney degeneration) further supported these results. Conclusion: The very low toxicity of the aqueous leaf extracts of TV, VA and SO at high doses makes them safe at currently non-standardised doses used for animal treatment.
Highlights
Uganda has 80% of its population depending on agriculture and about 50% are engaged in livestock farming [1]
Acute toxicity studies of leaves of Tephrosia vogelii (TV) [21], Vernonia amygdalina (VA) [15,22,23] and seeds of Senna occidentalis (SO) [24,25,26,27,28] have been studied in different animals
There was a gradual increase in body weight in rats across all treatment groups but mean weight of SO 600 mg/kg was lower than other groups at day 0 and 14
Summary
Uganda has 80% of its population depending on agriculture and about 50% are engaged in livestock farming [1]. Use of plants in animal disease treatment is practiced traditionally [2,4,5,6], albeit with non-standardised doses as a major shortfall [4,7,8] This is further compounded by the basic belief that plant extracts are non-toxic [2,7,9]. Senna occidentalis Linn (Family Caesalpiniaceae; synonym Cassia occidentalis L.; ILDIS id 1087), is a 0.8-1.5 m tall, smooth leafed perennial plant important in traditional medicine in the tropics [10,18]. It has good antimicrobial, anti-mutagenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and anti-malarial activity [18,19,20]. The objective of this study was to determine the sub-acute toxicity due to prolonged administration of these three commonly used plants in rats
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