Hematological and lipid profile evaluation of a hexane fraction of Costus afer leaves in arthritic rats.

BACKGROUND

Costus afer Ker Gawl. (Costaceae) is an ethnomedical plant used as therapy against inflammatory disorders.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to evaluate the hematological and lipid profile analysis of hexane fraction of C. afer leaves (CAHLF) in arthritic rats.

METHODS

Male albino rats were randomly distributed into seven groups of six rats each. Rats were induced with arthritis using formaldehyde and Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA) for 7 and 21 d, respectively. The animals were administered orally with 50, 100, and 250 mg/kg CAHLF, 10 mg/kg diclofenac and prednisolone, 0.9% NaCl (control), and 0.9% NaCl (normal). At the end of treatment periods, blood samples were withdrawn and subjected to hematological and biochemical analysis using auto-analyzer and spectrophotometric methods.

RESULTS

Hematological analysis revealed that in formaldehyde- and CFA-induced arthritic rat models, 250 mg/kg CAHLF-treated groups had significantly reduced (p < 0.05) hematocrit counts (HC) (30.98 ± 1.59% and 33.55 ± 1.10%), white blood cell counts (WBC) (5.50 ± 0.35 and 4.15 ± 0.82 × 10(9)/L), and platelet counts (PC) (401.50 ± 48.94 and 246.33 ± 5.54 × 10(9)/L) compared with control HC (46.90 ± 1.92 and 41.88 ± 2.19%), WBC (11.09 ± 0.26 and 7.37 ± 0.34 × 10(9)/L), and PC (783.67 ± 59.51 and 593.83 ± 36.3 × 10(9)/L). Furthermore, blood analysis showed that CAHLF-treated groups had reduced total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides while they had an elevated high-density lipoprotein compared with the control group.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings from this study indicated that CAHLF could possess immunomodulatory and hypolipidemic properties in arthritic rats. CAHLF could be considered as a source of biopharmaceutical agents in anti-arthritis drug discovery process.