ACTIVITIES OF SUBCHRONIC ADMINISTRATION OF METHANOL EXTRACT OF POLYALTHIA LONGIFOLIA (SONN) THW. ON PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL, IN VIVO ANTIOXIDANT AND HEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN RATS

ABSTRACT

Oxidative stress is a major problem that needs to be tackled. This study was set out to evaluate the effects of the oral sub chronic administration of methanol extract of Polyalthia longifolia (Sonn) Thw. leaf on preliminary phytochemical, in vivo antioxidant and hematological parameters in wistar rats. The rats were grouped into five groups, with three rats per group. Group one was the control group, received 0.5 ml if water while group two, three, four and five received 200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg, 800 mg/kg and 1600 mg/kg of the plant extract respectively. Blood samples were retrived from the abdominal aorta on the final day. The hematological profile of the blood sample collected was determined using auto hemo-analyser. Preliminary photochemistry revealed the presence of alkaloids and saponins in the plant extract. Total protein, glutathione peroxidase, malondialdehyde and catalase activities were determined using spectrophotometric assay based test kit. Malondialdehyde increased significantly, P<0.05 and Mean corpuscular volume. The activities of the extract on these parameters were evidently dose dependent. These activities suggest increasing risk on the sustained use of the extract, particularly at higher doses. However, with the exception of these parameters, no significant changes, p>0.05 were noted in all other indices evaluated in this study as compared to control. Further study is therefore recommended to substantiate the benefit of the plant extract for use as medicine.