Toxicological Studies of Aqueous Leaf Extract of Mucuna pruriens on Albino Rats

The leaves of Mucuna pruriens have been used traditionally for the treatment of various ailments but little information has been documented about its toxicological studies of the aqueous leaf extract of mucuna pruriens on albino rats to ascertain its hepatotoxic effect when used in traditionally medicine. Preliminary phytochemical analysis was carried out by the method of Harboune (1973). The ALT and AST concentrations were measured using Human test kits (Germany). Total protein and bilirubin were measured using standard biochemical methods as described in Amadi et al. 2004. The phytochemical analysis indicated the presence of flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, alkaloids, saponins and trace amounts of cyanogenic glycosides. The leaf extract of graded doses of 400 and 800mg/kg body weight given orally to the rats caused no significant increase or decrease (p>0.05) in the serum ALT, AST, total protein and bilirubin concentrations when compared to the controls. From the results of our study, we therefore conclude that the aqueous leaf extract of mucuna pruriens had no hepatotoxic effect at the investigated doses and thus can be used in traditional medicine. However, further research needs to be carried out on higher doses and duration.