Pharmaco-epidemiologic Survey and Experimental Study of Co-administration of Three Herbal Products with Paracetamol

Abstract

Pharmacoepidemiological survey of the use of herbal products and orthodox drugs was carried out within a university community using structured questionnaires. Three commonly used herbal products; Oroki Herbal Mixture® (OH), Mama Decoction® (MD) and Alomo Bitters® (AB) and co-administration with paracetamol were investigated based on the dosage instructions. Analgesic activity was evaluated using Hotplate method to determine the pain reaction time (PRT), while haematological and biochemical analysis and histopathological evaluation of the organs were carried out at the end of the study using standard procedures. All the herbal products showed significant analgesic activity, co-administration with paracetamol resulted in slight reduction in the PRT of AB and OH, while MD showed a significant reduction in time to reach peak PRT from 120 minutes to 30minutes. There was no significant effect on PCV, RBC and Hb level, while varied effect on other haematological parameters was observed by the co-administration with paracetamol. Co-administration of AB and MD increased alanine aminotransferase (ALT), while reduction was observed in OH. All the herbal products and their combination with paracetamol showed various stages of liver damage. Marked testicular degeneration was observed with co-administration of the herbal products with paracetamol, while kidney morphology was normal in all the treatments. All the herbal products investigated showed analgesic activities with synergistic enhancement of analgesic activity of paracetamol by Mama Decoction. However, their effect and their co-administration with paracetamol on some of the biochemical and haematological parameters as well as the damage to the liver and testes call for caution.

Keywords: Paracetamol, Analgesic activity, Herbal products, Haematological parameters, Biochemical parameters