Assessment of hepatorenal biochemical indices in male Sprague Dawley rats preceding concurrent oral administration of Ghana alcoholic bitters and natural cocoa powder

Introduction and aim. There has been a surge in the consumption of Ghanaian alcoholic bitters. Ghanaian alcoholic bitters are formulated from a maceration of not less than three plant parts making the organic composition very complex. There appear to be no studies on the effect of Ghanaian alcoholic bitters on the hepatorenal biochemistry indices. The study aimed to assess the effects of alcoholic bitters and cocoa powder on the liver and kidney serum biochemistry. Material and methods. Twenty-four healthy male Sprague Dawley rats, age 11–12 weeks, weighing 150–250 g were used. The rats were randomly assigned to four groups (n=6). At the end of the experimentation, a blood sample was taken by cardiac puncture and centrifuged to obtain the serum for biochemical assays and analysis. Results. The liver enzymes showed no significant difference between the treatment and control groups. There were higher mean values for total bilirubin and direct bilirubin for alcoholic bitters and natural cocoa powder groups respectively than the control group and the co-administration of alcoholic bitters and natural cocoa powder group. Conclusion. The study concludes that alcoholic bitters consumption might cause injury to the liver and kidney resulting in anomaly of the hepatorenal indices from rat blood serum biochemistry.