SUB-CHRONIC EFFECT OF ORAL ADMINISTRATION OF METHANOL LEAF EXTRACT OF Anthocleista grandiflora ON LIPID PROFILE IN MALE RATS .

ABSTRACT

Cardiovascular complications and related diseases remain a major cause of death in Africa and globally. Anthocleista grandiflora has been used for several different medicinal purposes like antimalarial and antidiabetic treatments. On this background, the sub-chronic effect of methanol leaf extract of the plant on the serum lipid profile of physiologically normal male rats was investigated. Four (4) groups of five (5) rats each were used. No treatment was given to the control group (Group I), while the extract at doses of 200, 400, and 800mg/kg of body weight (bwt) were orally administered to groups II, III, and IV respectively, for a period of 28 days. The effect of the extract on four (4) parameters of serum lipid profile; total cholesterol, triglyceride, High-density lipoprotein (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), was assessed on the basis of comparative determinations of the evaluated indices in treated rats, vis-`a-vis the non-treated group. The result of the study shows that there was no significant difference in the sum of the means of the four investigated parameters for all the groups (P>0.05) at the doses of 200, 400, and 800 mg/kg when compared with control.