Phytochemistry and Toxicity Studies of Telfairia Occidentalis Aqueous Leaves Extract on Liver Biochemical Indices in Wistar Rats

This study assessed the effect of oral ad ministration of aqueous extract of Telfairiaoccidentalis (TO) leaves on liver biochemical indices in Wistar albino rats. Fifty rats weighing 150-200g were div ided into 2 groups A and B, to test for acute (10 days) and sub-acute (4 weeks) effect respectively. Each group consisted of 25 rats, which were fu rther div ided into 5 sub-groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Sub-group 1 served as control and was orally gavaged with standard animal feed only, while sub-groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 were the test groups. In addition to the standard animal feed, 500mg/kg, 1000mg/ kg, 2000mg/kg and 4000mg/ kg of the extract was orally gavaged to the test groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. The standard animal feed g iven to the control and test groups contained the same amount of daily calories and protein. The acute and sub-acute administration of the extract caused significant differences in values of Aspartate amino Transferase(AST), Aspartate to Alanine amino Transferase(AST/ALT) rat io, Total protein, A lbumin, Globulin, Albu min/ Globulin ratio, Total body weight, Total and Conjugated bilirubin (P < 0.001) between test and control groups. Seru m levels of other parameters were statistically non-significant. There was no obvious evidence of hepato-toxicity detected in this study.