ABSTRACT
The study was conducted to investigate the safety of combined extracts of Bryophyllum pinnatum (family: Crassulaceae) and Aloe barbadensis (family: Xanthorrhoeaceae) in rats. Forty rats were randomly selected and divided into four groups. Rats in groups I were administered with placebo as the control animals, while rats in groups II, III and IV were administered with aqueous extracts at 25mg/ml, 50mg/ml and 100mg/ml respectively for 28 days. Five milliliter (5ml) of blood was collected from either the ocular vein or aorta of each animal for evaluation of baseline and post – treatment values of AST, ALP, ALT, BUN, Total protein, and Creatinine, WBC, RBC, Platelet, MCV, MCH and MCHC. Data were expressed as Mean±Standard Error of Mean and analyzed using oneway ANOVA. Difference of means was considered statistically significant at P<0.05. Quantitative phytochemical assay revealed mainly alkaloids, with one gram each of B. pinnatum and A. barbadensis extracts containing 5.3mg and 9.1mg of alkaloids respectively. Administration of the combined extracts elevated the serum levels of Alkaline phosphatase, Aspartate amino transaminase, Total protein, Creatinine and BUN in the entire rats in test groups especially those in group IV (P<0.05). In ALT, there was no significant variation between the baseline and the post-treatment values especially in animals in groups III and IV (P>0.05). Rats in groups II, III and IV exhibited significant increase in values of WBC, RBC, Platelet, MCV and MCH (P<0.05) while MCHC value for rats in group IV showed insignificant differences when compared to the control rats (P>0.05). Administration of the combined extracts may be tolerated at ≤25mg/kg bodyweight, if prolonged administration is avoided.