Effect of Hippocratea africana Root Bark Extract on Lipid Profile of Female and Male Albino Wistar Rats

There is significant global application of plant(s) extract for curative purposes. One of such focus is herbal remedies for malaria and their safety in biological system need to be ascertained. The antiplasmodial activity of Hippocratea africana root bark has been studied. Its effect on the lipid parameters at graded doses of 100, 200 and 300mg/kg body weight administered to both female and male rats of groups II, III, and IV respectively for 14 days was studied. Group I served as the control and was administered distilled water. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids and tannins in high concentrations, alkaloids and cardiac glycosides in moderately concentrations while saponins was trace. There were significant (p≤0.05) decrease in total cholesterol and increase in TG and HDL-CH for the female test rats at 200mg/kg body weight of the extract compared with the control. There was decrease in VLDL-CH and LDL-CH concentrations that was not significant (p ≥ 0.05) compared with the control. 200 and 300mg/kg body weight extract treatment groups for the male rats recorded significant (p≤0.05) increase in total cholesterol and TG concentrations, non significant (p≥0.05) increase in HDL-CH, significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in VLDL-CH and significant (p≤0.05) increase in LDL-CH compared with the control. The significant decrease concentration of total cholesterol with increase in TG and HDL-CH concentrations for the female rats suggest that the herb maybe safe for use its antiplasmodial property. This effect may be due to the phytochemicals present in herb. Its hypercholesterolemia for the male rats however suggests that long term administration of the herb may predispose atherosclerosis/coronary heart disease.