Body Weight and Platelet Count Changes in Zidovudine Administered Wistar Albino Rats Treated with Ethanolic Extracts of Annona muricata and Fagara zanthoxyloide

Zidovudine administration either in single or fixed-dose combination usually results in a decrease in body weight and in some cases thrombocytopenia. The present study investigated the body weight and platelet count changes observed in zidovudine pre-administered Wistar albino rats on treatment with ethanolic extracts of the leaves Annona muricata (AM) and roots of Fagara zanthoxyloide (FZ). Plants samples were collected from Alakahia community, Rivers state and Opoo community, Ogun state; while Wistar albino rats were grouped into normal control, negative control (receiving zidovudine at 100 g/ml/Kg bw), AM and FZ extract treatment (at 4.5 and 3.8 g/ml/Kg B.W respectively) groups with analysis performed bi-weekly. All tests were performed using standard procedures with all reagents of analytic grade. Phytochemical screening of the extracts showed significantly high amounts of alkaloids (10.47- 21.15 mg / 100 g), phenols (10.60-15.22 mg / 100 g) and tannins (14.23 - 50.19 mg / 100 g). The investigation into their proximate compositions also showed high fat (5.78 ± 0.02) in FZ, moisture (10.47 ± 0.05) in AM and fibre (7.37 ± 0.03) in FZ. The amino acid phenylalanine (5.10-6.01 g / 100 g), isoleucine (4.44-5.20 g / 100 g), lysine (4.03 -5.31 g / 100 g) was observed to be available in the extracts. In the normal control group body weight increased by 20.75 g at week 6 while administration of Zidovudine, resulted in a decreased in bodyweight by 1.14 g in week 2 and 3.32 g in week 6. Extract treatment caused a significant increase (p≤0.05) in body weight by 17.95g (AM) and 18.23g (FZ) at week 6. Platelet count was also observed to significantly decrease (p≤0.05) by 33.42% in the negative control group when compared to the normal control. This was observed to significant increases in extract treatment by 49.56% (AM) and 51.32% (FZ). The results thus suggest a possible beneficial effect of the extracts of AM and FZ in checkmating the weight and platelet loss observed as a side effect of zidovudine therapy as well as the possible use in haemorrhagic conditions to reduce bleeding without thromboembolism.