Trypanocidal Effect Of Extracts Of Chanca Piedra (Phyllanthus Amarus) In Trypanosoma Bruce! Infection Of Albino Rats

ABSTRACT

 Aqueous and ethanol extracts of Phyllanihus arnarus (Schum and Thonn) were tested for trypanocidal activity agaiiist Trypanosoma brucel in albino rats. The rats were divided into six groups of four rats per group. Three groups were inoculated intraperitoneally with T. brucei and two groups out of the three were treated daily with 40mg/kg body weight with the aqueous and ethanol extracts respectively, while the third group had no treatment. The three other groups served as treatment control. The parasitaernia and packed cell volume of the rats were recorded at start of the experiment and subsequently at 4 days interval. There was no significant difference (P < 0.05) observed between the mean distributions of parasitaernia in the untreated control group when compared with the treated groups. There was a drop in the mean packed cell volume of the infected rats from day 4 to day 28 post infection but the mean packed cell volume of the non-infected groups remained fairly constant. It was concluded that Phyllanthus amarus has no trypanocidal activity and also no effect on the PCV of the albino rats.