Toxicological Evaluation of Five Herbal Drugs Hawked In Minna, Niger State

The medicinal and cultural acceptance of herbal drugs has been established since ancient time but often without any toxicological assessment. In the present study the toxicological assessment of five herbal medicinal concoctions sold in Minna, Nigeria was carried out in mice. Parameters determined included weight variations, packed cell volume (PCV), total serum protein, glucose and triacylglycerides which were compared to control groups that were administered 20ml/kg body weight of normal saline. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, glycosides and flavonoids in most of the drugs. Safe doses of the drugs in the rodents were determined to range between 150-800mg/Kg body weight while LD50 were in the range of 800-2500mg/Kg body weight. Serum glucose, total proteins and triglycerides were each significantly (p<0.05) elevated in at least three of the five drug treatments at the end of the five weeks study period. There were however consistent decline in total body weights and packed cell volumes of the experimental animal during the same period. These results constitute early indices to the potential adverse physiological effects of repeated usage of the concoctions analysed.