ABSTRACT
The experiment is aimed at carrying out a toxicological study on rats given different doses of both aqueous and methanol extract of Acalypha Wilkesiana and to determine the degree of toxicity on some organs of the rats fed with both aqueous and methanol extract of Acalypha Wilkesiana.A total of seventy five male albino rats were used for the whole of the experiments. For Acute toxicity study phase one of the studies alone was carried out.
For sub-acute toxicity study: The rats were placed into 4 different groups and group 1 served as the control group that was fed with pellets and water, the other groups that’s group 2 to 4 was divided into 2 sub-groups (group 2A aqueous and 2B methanol), and was given different doses of plant extracts. For 28 days, to mark the end of our sub-acute toxicological study, liver and kidney function biomarkers, electrolytes, lipid profile assays were investigated. For the acute toxicity study, it was observed that there was no visible sign of toxicity or death observed in all the animals administered with the aqueous and methanol extract of Acalypha Wilkesiana.
From the sub-Acute toxicity study, it was observed that the activity of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was increased following the administration of graded doses of the methanol extract when compared with normal control but for aqueous extract the activity was not significantly increased with a significant difference (p > 0.05).The activity of alanine aminotransferase (ALP) was not significantly impacted by the graded dose of the methanol and aqueous extract relative to the normal control (p > 0.05). However, the concentration of direct bilirubin and albumin was significantly (p < 0.05) elevated in a dose-dependent manner in groups exposed to both methanol and aqueous extract relative to the normal control when compared to the control. The sub-acute effect of the methanol extract of Acalypha wilkesiana on the Electrolyte levels in male rats, at the dosage of 1000 mg extract / Kg body weight of rat, the concentration of plasma sodium ion significantly reduced relative to the normal control (p < 0.05), at the highest dose of 2000 mg extract/ Kg body weight of rat, there was a significant decrease in the concentration of potassium relative to the normal control (p < 0.05). Graded dose administration of the aqueous extract of Acalypha wilkesiana did not significantly increase or decrease the concentration of plasma electrolyte levels in the rat when compared to the normal control (p > 0.05). An increase in the dose of the methanol extract did not significantly increase or decrease (p > 0.05) the concentration of urea and creatinine in all the treated groups when compared to the control. An increase in the dose of the aqueous extract to 2000 mg/Kg bodyweight led to a significant decrease (p > 0.05) in the concentration of urea and creatinine when compared to the control in a dose-dependent manner. The administration of both aqueous and methanol extract significantly elevated the concentrations of T. CHOL, and LDL-cholesterol but inversely impacted the concentration of HDL-cholesterol in a dose-dependent manner relative to the control (p < 0.05). However, the concentration of TG and VLDL-cholesterol increased, but not with a significant difference (p > 0.05).
From the study carried out, the results revealed that it is more likely that the administration of aqueous and methanol leaves extracts of Acallypha wilkiasiana do not have any observed acute toxicity effect. However, the sub- acute toxicity study showed mild effect on increase of doses of the extracts which could be as a result of prolonged administration.
