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ABSTRACT
Negro pepper (NP) has a wide range of documented uses in folkloric medicine and it has been reported to have effects on serum lipid levels, but a gap in knowledge exists about its effect on serum lipid levels in pregnancy. To fill this gap, this study aimed to determine the effect of NP on the serum lipid levels in pregnant wistar rats. Method: A total of 35 female wistar rats were used in this study. After acclimatization for two weeks. 5 male rats of proven fertility were introduced into the cages in the ratio of 1:4 to allow mating. Gestational day 0 (GD 0)/day of pregnancy was determined by the presence of sperm in the vaginal smears of the rats, the rats were separated into seven groups which contained 5 rats each. The first group served as the control group and the two other groups served as the test group for both Ethanol Extract (75ml, 150ml, 300ml) and Hexane Extract (0.25mg/kg, 0.5mg/kg, 1mg/kg). These Wistar rats were given growers match. Administration started 7 days after mating and lasted for 7days. The rats were anesthetized with chloroform. Twenty-four hours after the last doses were administered, 5 ml of blood was collected by cardiac puncture with the aid of a syringe from each animal into clean dry plain bottles which were centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes to obtain serum for the biochemical analysis. Serum lipid levels of total cholesterol (TCH), triglycerides (TAG), low density and high density lipoprotein (LDL and HDL) were determined by Selectra ProS manufactured by EliTech Clinical System. Lipids analysis results were expressed as mean ± Standard Error of Mean. Significant difference between mean groups was determined by one way analysis of variance (ANOVA). P value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: there was a statistically significant increase (P<0.05) in the final body weight of rats administered with 0.5mg/kg of NP when compared with the initial weight, a statistically significant decrease (P<0.05) in the weights for rats that were administered with 300mg/kg of ethanol NP extract when compared with the control. There was a statistically significant increase in HDL cholesterol level in pregnant rat treated with 75mg/kg and 300mg/kg of ethanol extract of NP while there was only significant increase in HDL levels in pregnant rats administered 1ml/kg of hexane extract compared to control. There was a statistically significant increase in triglyceride level of pregnant rats administered with 0.5ml/kg of hexane extract of NP but there was no significant increase in TG levels in pregnant rats administered ethanol extract of NP. There was a statistically significant increase in LDL cholesterol level in pregnant rats administered with 1ml/kg of hexane extract of NP but there was no significant increase in LDL level in pregnant rats administered ethanol extract of N.P. There was a statistically significant increase in total cholesterol levels in pregnant rats administered the hexane extract of negro pepper but there was only a significant increase in test group administered 300mg/kg of ethanol extract. This study reveals that hexane and ethanol extract of N.P could affect serum lipid levels at various doses in pregnant wistar rats.
