PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING, HAEMATOLOGICAL EFFECT IN RED BLOOD CELL AND WHITE BLOOD CELL AND THE HISTOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF PICRALIMA NITIDA STERM BARK

For ages, Picralima nitida (Apocynaceae) has been used in traditional medicine to treat a wide range of diseases, such as inflammation, diabetes, and malaria. The plant exhibited potential antibacterial and analgesic properties. In this study, methanol extract of Picralima nitida stem bark was evaluated using standard methods for it’s phytochemical screening, haematological effects, and histological analysis. Alkaloids, saponins, tannins, proteins, carbohydrates flavonoids, reducing sugars, and terpenoids were found in the samples. For the Haematological studies, the result on the effects of methanol stem bark of P. nitida extract on the red blood cell and it's components revealed significant impact on the following red blood cell characteristics including hamacrite (HCT), haemoglobin (HGB) and red blood cell (RBC) of administered (200mg/kg, 400mg/kg and 800mg/kg) doses when compared with the control group. This shows that picralima nitida stem bark methanol extract can increase the blood’s ability to carry oxygen and hence, it is possible that picralima nitida stem bark methanol extract will be effective in treating certain diseases like anaemia.All the mice that received the plant extracts experience an increase in WBC counts, white blood cells are involved in battling illness and the extracts may stimulate their production. The result on the white blood cell demonstrates that the picralima nitida extract significantly affected the white blood cells (WBC), lymphocyte (LYM), and granulocyte (GR) counts. Data compiled herein indicate that this plant can be a source of herbal drug to combat or fight against infections.