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Olax subscorpioidea (Oliv.) leaf is widely used as a traditional remedy for pain, reduction of small tumors, edema, painful swellings, and other inflammatory conditions. Its anti-inflammatory potential in experimental animals has been documented. Furthermore, an anti-inflammatory assay guided fractionation showed that the aqueous and butanol leaf fractions were the most active. This study is aimed at investigating further, the acute and sub-acute anti-inflammatory potentials of the aqueous and butanol leaf fractions in mice and rats.Carrageenan induced paw edema in rats, xylene induced ear edema in mice, and cotton pellet induced granuloma in rats were the models employed for the studies. For each of the methods, four randomly-selected groups of animals (n=5/6) were orally administered with distilled water (1 ml/kg), aqueous or butanol fraction (1,000 mg/kg) and standard drugs (acetylsalicylic acid [ASA] 300 mg/kg or dexamethasone, 1 mg/kg).The aqueous and butanol fractions each showed significant (p < 0.01) inhibition of ear swelling, the fractions also significantly (p < 0.05, p < 0.01) decreased the paw edema, and significantly (p < 0.01) inhibited the granuloma formation.The result of the study suggests that aqueous and butanol leaf fractions of Olax subscorpioidea are effective against acute and sub-acute inflammation.

Background: Daucus carota L. belongs to the family Apiaceae and it is commonly known as carrot. The aerial part is used in some Northern parts of Nigeria as a livestock feed without scientific evidence of its safety to animal and man.Aim: The study assessed the safety margins of the D. carota aerial parts.Setting: The aerial part of D. carota were sourced from cultivated farmland at the outskirts of Samaru, Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State and authenticated at Herbarium Unit of the Department of Botany, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria. The aerial parts were air-dried under shade, pulverised and stored properly for analysis.Methods: According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) method, the acute and sub-acute toxicity studies were carried on the crude extracts of the aerial parts to evaluate the safety of the healthy Wistar rats.Results: The findings from the oral acute toxicity study showed that there was no sign of toxicity and mortality at 5000 mg/kg in the n-hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts. The sub-acute toxicity graded doses of 500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg and 1500 mg/kg of these extracts revealed a significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) on body weight, haematological parameters, liver and kidney function parameters. The histopathological effects of the extracts revealed different morphological alterations in the liver and kidney when compared with the control group.Conclusion: The study concluded that the aerial parts of D. carota might not be safe for livestock and its consumption could be capable of causing liver, kidney, tissue injury and other related diseases to animal and man.

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