Preventive and Therapeutic Effects of Garcinia kola Biflavonoid Fractions on some Haematological Parameters of P407 Induced Hyperlipidemic Albino Rats

Abstract

The preventive and therapeutic effects of Garcinia kola biflavonoid fractions on some haematological parameters in Poloxamer 407 (P407) induced hyperlipidemic rats was studied for a period of 21 days. Sixty mixed sex Wistar rats weighing 150-200 g were divided into two major groups; Preventive group comprising the following sub-groups: normal control, P407 induced hyperlipidemic control and groups treated orally with atorvastatin as standard drug, root bark, stem bark and seed biflavonoid fractions of Garcinia kola respectively for 19 days and made hyperlipidemic with a single intraperitoneal injection on day 19. Therapeutic group comprising similar subgroups were induced by an intraperitoneal injection of P407 every 48 hours and treated with atorvastatin, root bark, stem bark and seed biflavonoid fractions for 21 days. In both groups, atorvastatin, P407 and the Garcinia kola biflavonoid fractions were administered at 10 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg body weight respectively. Blood samples were collected from the rats in all the groups at the end of the experiment for determination of some haematological parameters levels; Packed Cell Volume (PCV), Platelet, neutrophils, lymphocytes, Haemoglobin (Hb), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Red Blood Cell (RBC) Count and White Blood Cell (WBC) Count were determined using the Sysmex Haematological Autoanalyzer. In both groups, atorvastatin and all biflavonoid fractions significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the levels of platelet count and had no significant (p > 0.05) change on the level of neutrophils compared to hyperlipidemic control. The seed biflavonoid fraction significantly (p < 0.05) increased RBC when compared to all the groups except stem bark biflavonoid fraction treated in the therapeutic group. However, there was no significant (p > 0.05) change in the levels of the other determined haematological parameters in both groups. These results suggest that Garcinia kola (root bark, stem bark and seed) biflavonoid fractions could be potential drugs for the prevention and treatment of platelet-activity thrombosis as well as erythropoietic, protective and stimulating effect.