Sub-acute effects of crude methanolic leaf extract of Mucuna flagellipes (Vogel ex Hook) on haemotological profile and haematinic activities in albino wistar rats.

Plants have played a significant role in maintaining human health and improving the quality of human life many years ago and have served humans as medicines in folklore or food supplements. The objective of this study was to determine the subacute effects of c rude methanolic extract of Mucuna flagellipes on haemopoiesis and haematinic activi- ties in albino wistar rat. One hundred and sixty four rats were grouped into nine (A,B 1,B2,B3,C,D,E,F and G). Anaemia was induced in groups C,D,E Fand G using phenylhydrazine, while groups B1,B2,B3 were not induced. Group A served as control. Groups B1,B2,B3 and C,D,E received graded doses of the extract (10, 20 and 40mg/kg body weight each) r e- spectively, while group F received 0.1 ml/kg body weight of astymin, and G remai ned untreated. Two mls of venous blood was collected from four animals in each group on days 3, 6 and 9. This was used to determine the haematological profile using sysmex KX-21N haematology auto-analyzer. Group B2 showed statistically significant increase (P <0.05) in neutrophil count and a decrease ( P <0.05) in lymphocyte count when compared with the control on day 3. RBC, Hb and PCV showed statistically significant decrease (p < 0.01) in groups B 2, B3, C and G, while RBC and PCV recorded a simi- lar result in group D when all the test groups were compared with the control on day 6. Platelet count showed statistically significant increase ( P< 0.01) in groups B2 and B3, but statistically significant decrease ( P< 0.05) in E on day 9. From the results of this work, it can be concluded that Mucuna flagellipes methanolic crude leaf extract possess sub -acute haemopoietic and haematinic activities.