Evaluation of the Acute and Sub-chronic Toxic Effects of Aqueous Leaves Extracts of Artemisia Afra on Liver, Kidney and Some Blood parameters in Wistar Rats at Addis Ababa University on year 2014/2015
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Date
2015-08
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Traditional medicine has remained to be the most affordable and easily accessible source of
treatment in the primary healthcare system of resource poor communities and, it is the only
means of treatment for such communities.
Plants have been the basis for treatment throughout human history, and they are still widely
practiced today as part of traditional medicine. The plant Artemisia afra has been shown to
display a wide spectrum of biological and pharmacological activities, which provide
experimental support for the empiric ethno-pharmacological use of this plant in traditional
medicine. However, despite its widespread use, very little is known about its safety and
efficacy.
This Experimental laboratory based study has been carried out to investigate the acute and
subchronic toxic effects of leaves of Artemisia afra on liver and kidney; and some blood
parameters in rats. The study was carried out in Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine,
Addis Ababa University. The experiments were performed on 59 Wister rats (32 for acute and
27 for subchronic study) based on the OECD guideline they were assigned to each group
randomly. The study was conducted from January 2014-July 2015. Various doses of aqueous
extract of the leaves were employed for single dose toxicity studies, while the effective dose
and triple the effective dose were used for repeated toxicity studies.
This study showed that the oral lethal dose (LD50s) is higher than 5000mg/kg. Generally in the
acute toxicity study; the general behavior and body weights were not altered in Wister rats
administered with doses up to 5000mg/kg. After subchronic study with both doses (600 and
1800mg/kg), there were no significant changes in the overall body weight, the evaluated
hematological and most of the biochemical parameters. No death was recorded. In gross
observation, the kidneys and liver of treatment groups appear normal in their texture, size or
color as compared to the control. Histopathological presentations were generally normal
though there were mild mononuclear leukocytic infiltrations around the central venules &
portal areas of Wister rats’ liver at both 600 and 1800mg/kg dose in addition minor
tubulointerstitial leukocytic infiltrations were observed in small areas of kidney sections
administered higher dose. Findings of this study revealed that A. afra is relatively safe.
Keywords: A. afra, Traditional medicine, Toxicological assessment
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Keywords
A. afra; Traditional Medicine; Toxicological Assessment