RENAL EFFECTS OF ETHYL ACETATE LEAF EXTRACT OF BLIGHIA SAPIDA IN MALE WISTAR RATS

Blighia sapida is used for therapeutic purposes in the west Africa for treatment of fever and some digestive issues although caution is necessary because of the high toxic effects of the unripe fruit and seed. This study aimed to examine the possible harmful effects of ethyl acetate extract of Blighia sapida leaves of the kidney. For acute toxicity test, five groups of Wistar rats were administered a single dose of 100, 500, 1000, 2500, and 5000 mg/kg body weight of ethyl acetate leaf extract of Blighia sapida. The animals were observed for 24 hours and thereafter for 14 days for signs of toxicity. Another experiment involved twenty male Wistar rats divided into 4 groups of 5 animals each. Groups A, B, C and D were given 500, 250, 125, and 0.00 mg/kg body weight of ethyl acetate extracts in 10% DMSO respectively for 21 days through oral administration. Twenty-four hours after the last dose, the animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and blood was collected into plain sample bottles for preparation of serum. Kidney was excised, weighed and used for preparation of homogenate. The serum levels of biochemical makers like serum creatinine, serum electrolytes (Na+, CO32- ,PO43- ,Mg2+ ) and urea were measured by spectrophotometric methods. The redox status of the kidney was assessed by measuring the activity of kidney SOD as well as concentration of GSH, MDA, protein carbonyl and 8OHdG using spectrophotometric methods. Data were analyzed by measuring ANOVA with GraphPad Prism. Result shows that the administration of Ethyl acetate leaf extract of Blighia sapida (ELEBS) led to prevention of increase in relative kidney weight. The ethyl acetate leaf extract of B. sapida leads to no significant changes in the total level of urea, serum creatinine and serum electrolyte (Na⁺,HCO₃⁻, Mg²⁺,PO₄³⁻) at 125 mg/kg body weight and may be safe for consumption at this dose as well as the oxidative status (SOD, GSH, MDA, Protein Carbonyl, 8OHdG) when compared to the control animals. However, higher dosage can cause severe adverse effects.