No abstract

People in Africa and other developing countries depend on medicinal plants. Extract of Parkia biglobosa stem bark is used in Nigerian traditional medicine to treat malaria, diarrhea and pains. This study aimed at determining the effect of aqueous stem bark extract of P.biglobosa on the histological morphology of liver in animal models. A total of 28 wistar rats weighing between 100 – 150g were used for this study out of which 12 were used for acute toxicity testing using Lorke’s method (1983), the test was carried out in two phases. In phase I, 9 adult wistar rats were divided into 3 groups and administered with 10mg/kg, 100mg/kg and 1000mg/kg orally while in phase II, 3 wistar rats were assigned into 3 groups and administered with 1600mg/kg, 2600mg/kg and 5000mg/kg respectively and both they were observed for signs of toxicity/mortality within 24hrs. The remaining 16 rats were divided into 4 groups; A, B, C and D. Group A served as control and groups B, C and D served as test groups. For 21 days, group A received normal feed and water only and then group B, C and D received oral doses of 1000mg/kg, 500mg/kg and 250mg/kg of aqueous extract of P.biglobosa stem bark respectively. A significant increase in the level of ALP, ALT and AST was observed in comparison with the control, P< 0.005 was considered statistically significant. It was shown that liver sections in group A (control) presents no histological changes while the liver section of animals treated with (1000mg/kg and 500mg/kg) of P.biglobosa aqueous extract for 21 days revealed an inflammation, vascular degeneration and vacoulation respectively. It was found that at higher doses P.biglobosa aqueous stem bark extract could be hepatotoxic.