Toxicity Studies of Aqueous-Methanol Extract of Dennettia tripetala (Pepper fruit) Fresh Ripe Fruits in Experimental Rats

Traditional medicine still remains the main recourse for a large majority of people for treating health problems in African. Therefore, the aim of this work is to assess the toxicological effect of the fresh ripe fruits using two solvents for extraction. The toxicological evaluation of aqueous-methanol extract of Dennettia tripetala fresh ripe fruits at 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight for 14 days on some biochemical parameters in wistar rats was investigated. The extract at all the doses tested show non-significant (p > 0.05) increase from the control in ALT, AST, ALP, total protein, albumin, direct bilirubin, creatinine, Na+ and K+, while the level of total bilirubin and urea show significant (p < 0.05) increase from the control at 400mg/kg body weight. The levels of SOD, GPx, GST, and GSH in the serum were significantly (p < 0.05) decrease in the treated rats at 200 and 400mg/kg body weight, whereas the level of MDA and CAT showed non-significant (p > 0.05) increase in all the animals. The results of this finding indicated that the aqueous-methanol extract may not have serious effect on the liver and the kidney at 100 mg/kg b.d., but may be toxic at high doses as observed in the acute toxicity, sub-acute results and antioxidant parameters where it shows a dose-specific effects.