Amelioration of anaemia and organ damage by combined intraperitoneal administration of vitamins A and C to Trypanosoma brucei brucei-infected rats

Abstract

The effect of combined administration of 1000 i.u/100g body weight (bd.wt.) vitamin A and 100 mg/kg bd wt. vitamin C to Trypanosoma brucei brucei-infected rats daily for twenty-one days was investigated. The anaemia caused by T. brucei infection in rats not administered the vitamins was significantly (P<0.05) more severe than that recorded in the group of infected rats given the daily doses of the vitamins. Indices of hepatic function such as serum alanine-and aspartate transaminases, and serum alkaline phosphatase activities as well as indices of renal function such as serum urea and creatinine levels were all significantly (P<0.05) elevated above levels in uninfected rats by T. brucei infection. However, combined administration of vitamins A and C to infected animals prevented the diseaseinduced increases in these parameters. T. brucei infection also caused significant hepatomegaly and splenomegaly in vitamin-free rats; however administration of the vitamins to infected rats completely prevented the hepatomegaly but only partially prevented the splenomegaly caused by infection. It was concluded that intraperitoneally administered vitamins A and C alleviated T. brucei-induced anaemia and organ damage.

The Mechanisms of Anaemia in Trypanosomosis: A Review

“…These oxidative products generally attack the cellular integrity of erythrocytes during trypanosomosis (Anosa & Kaneko, 1983;Igbokwe, 1994;Umar et al, 2007). They also particularly attack erythrocyte membrane polyunsaturated fatty acids and proteins (Slater, 1984) or red blood cells directly leading to oxidative haemolysis (Ameh, 1984;Igbokwe, et al, 1989;Umar et al, 2007).…”

Anti–trypanosomal effect of Peristrophe bicalyculata extract on Trypanosoma brucei brucei–infected rats

“…This agrees with studies where ALT was elevated in Trypanosomaevansi-infected [37] and T. brucei brucei-infected [38] animals. Several other studies have reported elevated serum enzymes [29,39,40] . The elevation of these enzymes is usually indicative of liver damage, being the major liver maker enzymes; or partly to cellular damage caused by lysis or destruction of the trypanosomes [38] .…”

“…The increase in PCV after treatment with fraction 2c at 100 and 200 mg/kg may be due to its ability to eliminate parasites from the blood, probably by reaching the site of action or rapid metabolization [4,28] . Also, the antioxidant activity of the plant [13] may have contributed to the increase, as studies have demonstrated the ability of vitamins to ameliorate anaemia in trypanosome-infected rats [29,30] .…”

“…Administration of the standard drug, diminazine aceturate and the partially-purified fraction of P. bicalyculata prevented, to a significant extent, the disease-induced increases in serum ALT. This suggests that the fraction protected the liver against some oxidative species generated during the disease, probably by virtue of its antioxidant property, providing greater protection to plasma membrane and other susceptible cellular structures against oxidative agents [29,30] .…”

In Vivo Trypanocidal activity of Hydroethanolic extract of Hymenocardia acida stem bark in Rats

“…The Discussion prolongation of life span in infected groups following oral administration of the crude extract agrees with The prepatent period of 4 to 5 days observed in previous reports (Asuzu and Chineme, 1990; the present study is consistent with earlier findings Abubakar et al, 2005). Some of the infected rats which (Umar et al, 2007). These investigators reported that were treated with the extract still died even when they an acute infection associated with sudden death and had low parasitaemia.…”