Sub Acute Effect Of Methnolic Extract Of Euphorbia Heterophylla In Lipid Profile And Antioxidant Level Of Albino Rats :-Eze Joy N

ABSTRACT Over the centuries, man made use of herbs, even though he was unable to find an explanation for their therapeutic effect. This study aimed to determine the sub-acute effect of the methanolic extract of Euphorbia heterophylla leaf on lipid profile and antioxidant level of albino rats. The methanolic extract was prepared using cold maceration method with 80% methanol. The acute toxicity was performed using up and down method with limit dose of 2000mg/kg were randomly divided into 4 groups of 6 rats each. Group A served as control and received 5% DMSO at 5ml/kg b.wt, group B-D were treated with the extract at the dose of lOOmg/kg, 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg b-wt respectively. All treatment were administered orally once daily for 28 consecutive days. The animal weight was determined weekly. After the last treatment the animals were fasted overnight and the blood sample were collected through ocular puncture, the blood collected was used to prepare serum for analysis oflipid profile and antioxidant marker. The serum lipids profile was determined with a randox kit and the antioxidant marker was determined. The extract was well tolerated as no signs of toxicity or mortality was noticed during the period of observation. The extract at 400mg/kg caused a significant decrease in serum cholesterol (44.12±4.82) when compared to the control (63.03±3.75). There was no significant change in serum level of triglyceride (TAG), High density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL) in each doses when compared to the control group. Superoxide dismutase increased significantly (P<0.05) at lOOmg/kg and 200mg/kg. MDA also increase significantly at 400mg/kg while the catalase show no significant change and the extract also produce significant (P<0.05) concentration-dependent increase in the in vitro DPPH free radical scavenging activity. It produce its optimum activity at 400mg/kg. So this study suggests that Euphorbia heterophylla reduces cholesterol level and has potent antioxidant properties. It validate the use of Euphorbia heterophylla for this purpose in traditional medicine.