ABSTRACT
Acalypha wilkiesiana is a plant from the family Euphorbiacaece, which has ornamental and medicinal purposes, traditionally it has been as to treattreatment of gastrointestinal disorders and fungal skin infections. It possess phytochemicals such as saponins, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids and tannic acid. And these possess various pharmaceutical effect like anti-microbial, antifungal, anti-diabetic effect.
The liver is the largest internal organ in the body, it has many important functions concerning the metabolism, detoxification and regulation of the body system. It also synthesizes proteins such as Albumin and Alkaline phosphatase. Albumin functions as a significant modulator of plasma oncotic pressure and transporter of endogenous and exogenous ligands. Alkaline phosphatases catalyze the hydrolysis of organic phosphate esters found in the extracellular space. These proteins albumin and alkaline phosphatase. These protein have a specific concentration range in the plasma and serve as biomarkers indicative of liver disease and damage. Which might indicate the presence of other disease such as cancer.
1,2 dimethylhydrazine is an organotropic colon carcinogen, an alkylating agent widely used to induce benign and malignant neoplasm in the colon of rodents, it induces colorectal cancer in the tumor of wistar rat. The study was conducted to using the ethanolic extract of the plant to test the effect on the plasma albumin and alkaline phosphatase on wistar rat that were expose to 1,2 dimethylhydrazine. A total of forty six (46) healthy male wistar rats were used for this research and fresh Acalypha wilkesiana leaves were collected from the University of Benin's campus in Benin City, South-Western Nigeria. The rats were grouped into 6 groups, first group was taken as the control group and the other five cages were administered DHM for a period of 6 weeks, afterwards four (3) groups out of the 5 were administered the ethanol leaf extract, one group was administered Xeloda for a further six (6) weeks while the last cage was left as the negative control group. The result of this study shows the effect of Acalypha wilkiesiana leaf extract on the plasma levels of albumin and alkaline phosphate in wistar rat expose to I,2 dimethyhydrazine.C VVV
