ANTI-DIARRHOEAL AND SUBCHRONIC TOXICITY STUDIES ON METHANOLSTEM BARK EXTRACT OF IRIVINGIA WOMBOLU VERMOESEN (IRVINGIACEAE) IN LABORATORY ANIMALS
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Abstract:
Irvingia wombolu is one of the herbal plants used as food for its nutritional values. It is also used as medicinal plant in the south-south and south-eastern part of Nigeria for the management of diarrhoea and other ailments. Although these medicinal plants are believed to be harmless with their utilization, scarcity of scientific evidence on the claimed pharmacological activities of this plant is an issue of concern. This study was aimed at evaluating the antidiarrhoeal and subchronic toxicity studies of methanol stem bark extract of I. wombolu (MEIW) in laboratory animals. Preliminary phytochemical screening, acute and sub-chronic toxicity, in vivo antidiarrhoeal and isolated tissuestudies were carried out according to standard methods. Doses of 500mg/kg, 1000mg/kg and I500mg/kg were used for the in vivo antidiarrhoeal studies. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of saponins, steroids/triterpenes, flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids and carbohydrates whereas anthraquinones was absent. The oral median lethal dose (LD50) of the extract in mice was estimated to be greater than 5000 mg/kg. In the subchronic toxicity study, the extract did not produce significant changes on body weights and the relative organ weights of treated rats when compared with control. The extract significantly (p≤0.05) decreased only the white blood cell (WBC) and neutrophils count among the haematological parameters assessed. The extract also significantly (p≤0.05) increased ALP and sodium while AST, ALT, TP, bilirubin, potassium, bicarbonate, chloride, urea, creatinine and albumin showed no significant difference when compared with the control. Histopathological findings indicated that there were some levels of liver injury characterized by centrilobular necrosis and mild hepatocytes vacoulation. The kidney exhibited mild distortion of tubular epithelial cell and widening of the bowman capsule within the glomerular at doses of 500 and 1000 mg/kg with the adhesion of intestinal villi. Results obtained from the castor oil and magnesium sulphate sulphate-induced diarrhoea models indicated that MEIW produced statistically significant inhibition of diarrhoea in both models with reduction of wet faeces (p≤0.05). In the castor oil-induced enteropooling model, MEIW demonstrated an anti-enteropooling effect by reducing significantly (p≤0.05) the volume of intestinal content in a dose-dependent way. In the gastrointestinal transit of charcoal meal model, the movement (transit) of charcoal meal along the intestinal tract of mice treated with the extract of I. wombolu (MEIW) was delayed. With increasing doses of the extract, the peristaltic index decreased significantly (p≤0.05) in all as compared to the negative control. In the guinea pig ileum, the extract produced a marked relaxatory effect on the tissue. Graded concentrations of the extract, produced a reduction in the tone and rate of the spontaneous contraction of rabbit jejunum. Also atropine in synergy with the extract blocked completely the stimulant effect of the rabbit jejunum, this indicates that the extract possess some anticholinergic-like properties. It can be concluded that, the extract is relatively safe with minor histopathological changes in vital organs with significant antidiarrhoeal effect.
ANTI-DIARRHOEAL AND SUBCHRONIC TOXICITY STUDIES ON METHANOLSTEM BARK EXTRACT OF IRIVINGIA WOMBOLU VERMOESEN (IRVINGIACEAE) IN LABORATORY ANIMALS