Toxicological And Lactogenic Studies On The Seeds Of Hibiscus Sabdariffa Linn (Malvaceae) Extract On Serum Prolactin Levels Of Albino Wistar Rats
I Gaya, O Mohammad, A Suleiman, M Maje, A Adekunle
Keywords
hibiscus sabdariffa, lactation, milk., prolactin, seed extract
Citation
I Gaya, O Mohammad, A Suleiman, M Maje, A Adekunle. Toxicological And Lactogenic Studies On The Seeds Of Hibiscus Sabdariffa Linn (Malvaceae) Extract On Serum Prolactin Levels Of Albino Wistar Rats. The Internet Journal of Endocrinology. 2008 Volume 5 Number 2.
Abstract
Preliminary phytochemical screening of the ethanolic seed extract of
Introduction
Delphinidin 3-sambubioside, a
However, there is dearth of literature supporting its use in enhancing and induction of milk during lactation. Coupled with the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life stimulates babies’ immune systems and protects them from diarrhea and acute respiratory infections (27). Based on the overwhelming advantage of breast milk as an infant's source of nutrition, and a number of women who have lactation insufficiency due to prolactin deficiency, additional medication to augment lactation without side effects is needed (25). In light of this, the study is designed to evaluate the prolactin effect of
Materials And Methods
Chemicals used
All chemicals and drugs used were of analytical grade. Prolactin ELISA 96 test kits were obtained from Fortress Diagnostics Limited, BT41 1QS, UK. (BX0671A), while Metoclopramide was bought commercially with NAFDAC Reg. no.04-5946. It will be used to induce hyperprolactinemia in experimental animals (1). Chloroform anaesthesia and Dopamine (Aldrich Chemical company, Gillingham England) were obtained from Department of Human Physiology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Plant materials
The samples of
Extract preparation
The
Animals
Forty three Albino rats of both sexes weighed between 120-150 grams were used for both toxicity studies as well as testing the effect of
Phytochemical screening
The ethanolic seed extract of
Acute toxicity study
The lethal doses (LD50) of the plant extract was determined by method of Lorke (15, 23) using 13 rats. In the first phase rats were divided into 3 groups of 3 rats each and were treated with the ethanol extract of the seed at doses of 10, 100 and 1000 mg/kg body weight intraperitoneal. They were observed for 24 h for signs of toxicity. In the second phase 4 rats were divided into 4 groups of 1 rat each and were also treated with the ethanolic extract at doses of 1000, 1600, 2900 and 5000 mg/kg bodyweight
Experimental design
In the experiment, a total of 30 rats were used which were divided into 6 groups of 5 rats in each. The first group served as control, group 2 was given 5mg/kg metoclopramide
Determination of serum prolactin leves
Prolactin levels in heart blood samples at the time the animals were euthanized were analyzed using ELISA kit (8). The analysis was conducted in Department of Chemical pathology Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria.
Statistical analysis
All data are expressed as Mean ± S.E.M. The data obtained were analyzed using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Turkey-Kramer
Results
Acute toxicity study (LD)
The sign of toxicity were first noticed after 4 - 8 h of extract administration. There was decreased locomotor activity and decreased in sensitivity to touch. Also there was decreased feed intake, and prostration after 16 h of extract administration. There is no any mortality rate after administered 5000 mg/kg. The median lethal dose (LD50) in rats was calculated to be greater than 5000 mg/kg body weight.
The preliminary phytochemical screening of the aqueous seed extract of
Table I: and fig.I. showed the results of the control, extract treated and metoclopramide-treated groups in Wistar rats. All the extract-treated and metoclopramide-treated groups showed a significant increase in serum prolactin level (p<0.01) when compared to control normal saline group except the extract-treated dose of 200mg/kg which has serum prolactin level (P<0.05). The highest activity resides at the doses 800mg/kg and 1600mg/kg which have prolactin level of (15.74±0.8 and 17.24±0.6ng/ml) respectively. Also in fig. 1: the graph represents the activity of varying dose of extract and metoclopramide in the dose dependent manner.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Discussion
Medicinal plants are widely used by the populations of underdeveloped countries as alternative therapy. In Africa, hundreds of plants are used traditionally for the management and/or for enhancing lactation in cases of poor letdown or maternal mortality. Traditionally, the interest in induced lactation was motivated to provide nourishment for an infant whose mother either had died in childbirth or was unable to breast-feed. Unfortunately only a few of such African medicinal plants have received scientific scrutiny. The results of the present study reported that, the seed extract of
Lactogenic effect of herbs and seed has been reported in other plants (Asparagus racemosus, fennel seed, Grape sap, milk thistle and goat’s rue) (10, 11, 21, 18, 13, 24). The presence of steroidal saponins and sapogenins constituents contributes in the lactogenic effect of Asparagus racemosus (11, 21, 17). In the same vein the presences of saponins, tannins, alkaloids and flavonoids in
This study demonstrated that seed extract of
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to the following; Mohammad Nura of the Department of Human physiology Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria for the role he played in the laboratory during this research. Also Mr Olu Ayegbusi of the Department of Chemical pathology Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria for conducting the analysis of prolactin. We also acknowledge mcAuthor foundation Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and University Board of Research of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria for supporting this research work.