ABSTRACT
Alkaloids extract of the leaf of Gnetum africanum pretreatment was investigated on the activities of aspartate amino transaminase (AST), alanine amino transaminase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) serum and tissue levels in rats. The alkaloids extract was soxhlet extracted following a modified standard procedure. Acute toxicity of the extract was carried out in male rats to determine two tolerated doses used in investigation. Thirty adult male rats were divided into three groups (n=10). Group one received normal saline (0.85%Nacl) as control; groups two and three received alkaloids extract of Gnetum africanium, 12 and 800mg/kg/d, for 3 and 31 days respectively. At the end of each treatment course, the rats were sacrificed 24h after last dose and blood samples collected through cardiac puncture into non-haperinized tubes, allowed to clot for 30 min and sera obtained by ultra iced-centrifugation. The biological activities of AST, ALT and ALP were measured by enzyme kits method. Histopathology of rat liver tissues of all treated groups were carried out. The alkaloids extract pretreatment for 3 days did not significantly alter serum and tissue enzymes levels of AST and ALT but significantly reduced the activity of ALP. However, subchronic treatments for 31 days significantly reversed the inhibitory effect of the extract on AST, ALT and ALP respectively. Histopathology of the rat liver morphology of all the treated groups showed no disorder. The observation allows conclusion that alkaloids extract of the leaf of Gnetum africanum is non hepatoxic.