|
Oral administration of
Rauwolfia vomitoria extract has no untoward effect on
kidney and liver functions in rats
Oyewole, O. I.* and Massaquoi, H. O.
Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine and Allied
Health Sciences, University of Sierra Leone, Freetown,
Sierra Leone.
*Corresponding
author. E-mail:
ioluoye@yahoo.com.
Tel: +23233757782.
Accepted 21 April, 2008 |
|
The effect of ethanolic
extract of leaf and root of Rauwolfia vomitoria on
kidney and liver functions in rats was investigated. Rats
were given daily oral administration of ethanolic extracts
of either root or leaf of R. vomitoria at two
different concentrations (1.0 and 2.0 g/kg body weight) for
a period of 14 days. Some biochemical parameters in the
serum, liver and kidney of the rats were measured and
compared with control. There were no significant difference
(P<0.05) in serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate
aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT),
urea, creatinine, Na+ and K+ in rats
treated with the extracts compared with the control. The
levels of the enzymes in the liver and kidney of rats that
received the extracts were not also significantly different
(P<0.05) from the control group. Measurement of organ, body
weight ratio did not show any indication of kidney or liver
enlargement. These results showed that the extract did not
cause derangement of cellular activities in the tissues of
the animals. We therefore suggest that administration of
ethanolic extract of root and leaf of R. vomitoria
has no untoward effect on liver and kidney functions in
rats.
Key words:
Rauwolfia vomitoria, ethanolic extract, liver
function, kidney function. |
