ABSTRACT

Acanthus montanus leaves have been used in the treatment of skin diseases, urogenital infections and have shown anti-inflammatory activity. The need to evaluate the actual bioactive constituents and ascertain the biochemical and toxicological changes associated to the plant leaves lead to carrying out this research. The bioactive constituents of the leaves were determined using Ge-Ms analysis. The rats were divided into 9 groups of male and female consisting of 5 rats each. Groups A and 1 were not exposed to the extracts and served as the normal control groups for male and female rats respectively. Groups (B-E) and (2-5) of male and female rats respectively were administered 200, 400, 600 and 800mg/kg of aqueous extract of A. montanus leaves while groups (F-I) and (6-9) of male and female rats were administered similar concentration of methanol extract of A. montanus leaves. The Ge-Ms showed the presence of 11 biocompounds with [Tetradece-11-yn-1-ol], [9,12-Octadecadienioc acid], [9,12,15- Octadecatrien-1-ol] and [Tetracosahexane, 2,6,10,15,19,23 -hexamethyl-] showing the highest peaks. The proximate analysis on the plant leaves showed presence of ash (4.78), moisture (80.72), lipid (0.55), fiber (2.03), Carbohydrate (11.07) and protein (0.85). The plant leaves was also observed to have high composition of vitamin A (77.80mg/60g) also possessing other vitamins. Calcium (2.90), sodium (2.82), iron (1.83) and potassium (0.74) were also found in the plant leaves. Liver enzyme assays showed a dose dependent significant (P<0.05) increase on the groups exposed to the extracts for both male and female rats when compared to their various control groups while total protein and albumin showed a significant decrease on the groups exposed to the extracts compared to the control groups for both male and female rats. Total bilirubin and direct bilirubin did not show significant (P<0.05) difference on the male and female rats that were exposed to aqueous and methanol extract when compared to their various control groups. Creatinine showed a significant (P<0.05) increase in the groups exposed to the extracts compared to the groups that were not exposed to the extracts for both male and female while urea showed a significant (P<0.05) decrease in the groups exposed to the extracts when compared to the groups that were not exposed to the extracts. All the lipid profile showed significant (P<0.05) decrease but for high density lipoprotein which showed significant (P<0.05) increase in the groups exposed to the extracts when compared to the groups that were not exposed to the extracts. The haematological test showed no significant (P<0.05) difference in some groups exposed to both extracts as most groups showed significant (P<0.05) decreases in some parameters when compared to their various control for both male and female rats respectively. The history architecture plates of the liver and kidney, showed moderate to widespread impairments mainly in the groups exposed to 800mg/kg of aqueous, 400, 600 and 800mg/kg of methanol extract of the plant leaves on both the male and female albino rats. The aqueous and methanol extract of A. montanus leaves showed anemic traits, hypolipidemic properties, renal and hepatic impairment as increase in dose lead to more toxicity especially with the methanol extract. The plant leaves may be helpful in managing hyperlipidemia and urea related diseases.