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ABSTRACT
Over the years, food additives have been used in an attempt to optimize food quality, increase shelf-life and possibly increase the yield of certain commercial products. Potassium bromate is no exception especially in the baking industry as it has been in use for a long time in bread production as well as in commercial products such as hair dyes before its detection as a harmful chemical substance not fit as a food additive. Classified under group 2B probable human carcinogen, potassium bromate has been banned in many countries. In this study targeted at determining the hepatoprotective effect of the methanolic leaf extract of Annona muricata (soursop) against bromateinduced liver injury in male albino Wistar rats, 60mg/kg body weight of the bromate ion was used to induce toxicity in thirty-six male Wistar rats that make up six (6) groups, each carrying six (6) animals. Rats were allowed a week of acclimatization before being exposed to a twenty-one (21) day treatment regimen. All rats received food (standard food chow ad libitum) and water during this period. The positive control group (I) received only normal saline. The negative control group (II) received only 60 mg/kg body weight of bromate ion. All other groups received 60 mg/kg body weight of bromate ion side-by-side selected doses (200, 300, and 500 mg/kg b.w) of the methanolic leaf extract of Annona muricata. The last group also received the same dose of bromate ion but was treated with 100 mg/kg body weight of a standard liver protection drug, silymarin. At the end of 21 days, animals were anesthetized using chloroform soaked in cotton wool in a covered container as well as sacrificed; followed by the collection of necessary components for gross examination. Serum liver transaminases (ALT and AST) were assayed using the serum obtained. Results obtained show that 60 mg/kg body weight bromate ion rapidly caused liver inflammation/severe zonal necrosis that lead to an increase in the activity of liver transaminases. The positive control group which received only normal saline gave less enzyme activity compared to all other treated groups. The negative control group was highest in enzyme activity as the animals received only the bromate ion. The treated groups also showed a significant rise in enzyme activity but following the administration of the selected doses of the leaf extract in comparison with the standard drug, enzyme activity was decreased across all other rat groups. In summary, the methanolic leaf extract of Annona muricata can compete favorably with other liver protection drugs that are commercially available.
