Rauwolfia vomitoria Afzel (Apocynaceae) is used in the African traditional medical practice for the management of various diseases such as cough, malaria, and as an anti-psychotic.
Objectives: The present study investigates the toxicological potential of the sub-acute administration of the aqueous leaf extract of Rauwolfia vomitoria (R.V) on the kidney and liver of adult Wistar rats.
Adult male Wistar rats were divided into three groups and orally administered 120 mg/kg R.V (group B), 300 mg/kg R.V (group C) and 1 ml distilled water (Control) for twenty-one days. Histology of the kidney and liver as well as selected indices of renal and hepatic functions were assayed for after completion of the study.
The extract produced a dose dependent increase in the activities of serum Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and produced no significant difference (P≤0.05) in the levels of creatinine and urea in the experimental groups when compared to the control group. Histological observation of both organs shows no cyto-architectural difference between the control and experimental groups.
Conclusions: The study demonstrated that the administration of the R. vomitoria at these doses has no toxic effect on the kidneys but could impair liver function in Wistar rats.