Evaluation of the Toxicological Effects of the Ethanolic Extract of Alstonia Boonei Stem Bark

Academic Paper from the year 2020 in the subject Biology - Diseases, Health, Nutrition, Obafemi Awolowo University, language: English, abstract: This study investigated the toxicological effects of ethanolic extract from alstonia boonei stem bark, based on the dosage and duration of administration to albino mice. We evaluated for the phytochemistry of the stem bark and the clinical biochemical parameters of blood plasma of albino mice. After administering the aqueous extract to the albino mice, the biochemical parameters in their blood plasma were determined using commercially available kits. The determination of the phytochemical constituent of the ethanolic extract revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids and cardiac glycosides. After the first week of administration, no significant variation in most of the biomarkers was recorded. However, after second week of treatment, urea and alanine aminotransferase levels fell significantly. Consequently, the ratio of aspartate transaminase to alanine transaminase was found to be much greater than 2, which was attributed to alcoholic toxicity from the ethanolic extract consumption.