Toxicological evaluation of a polyherbal formulation on biochemical parameters in Spraque-Dawley rats

Abstract

Background: Alomo bitters is an alcoholic polyherbal formulation consumedorally in Nigeria for its anti-pile and libido enhancing effects.

Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the toxicity of the alcoholic herbal formulation of subchronic oral administration in laboratory rats.

Methods: The oral LD₅₀ was determined using the Miller and Tainter method. For the subchronic study, rats of both sexes were administered 0.12, 0.25 and 0.5 mL/kg of alomo bitters daily for 40 days while control rats were administered 5 mL/kg distilled water. At the end of the study, animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and blood samples collected for hematological and biochemical analysis.

Results: The LD₅₀ oral was found to be 1.74mL/kg. There was progressive increase in mean weight gain of treated rats at 0.25 and 0.5 mL/kg respectively compared to control. For the biochemical assay, a dose dependent significant (p< 0.05) increase was observed in the level of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatinine, total cholesterol, triglycerides and low density lipoprotein (LDL) with a corresponding significant decrease in high density lipoprotein (HDL) at 0.25 and 0.5 mL/kg respectively compared to the controls.In the hematological assay, there was significant (p < 0.05) reduction in PCV and RBC at 0.25 and 0.5 mL/kg. Conversely, WBC was significantly (p< 0.05) increased at 0.25 and 0.5 mL/kg respectively.

Conclusion: The alcoholic herbal formulation investigated in this study can be considered relatively safe for consumption at lower doses within a short period of time. However, long term consumption of the herbal drink and at high doses poses a significant risk and damaging effect hence, could compromise human health.

Keywords: Polyherbal, subchronic, hematological, biochemical