Acute Toxicity And Histological Sudy Of Nalongo's Renal/Hepatic Disorder Potion In Rats

ABSTRACT

The history of use of herbal medicine dates back to more than 4000 years. A wide range of plants

have been utilized for treatment of multiple disorders of the liver. The utilization has been as

extracts of single plants and also compound preparations of more than one-plant type. Herbal

medicine has been categorically employed for a variety of medical problems and modern trends

have helped in extracting the active ingredients which have been classed into many chemical

groups such as alkaloids. glycosidcs. resins and tannins. Africa is faced by a '·double burden" of

communicable and non communicable diseases (NCD), the latter of which includes kidney

diseases. Kidney disease means the kidneys arc damaged and can no longer remove wastes and

extra water from the blood as they should. Kidney damage is most often caused by diabetes or

high blood pressure. hereas liver disease refers to a type of damage to or disease of the liver.

such as is seen in hepatitis (inflammation of the liver). alcoholic liver disease (due to excess

consumption of alcohol). fatty liver disease (hepatic stenosis), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

(associated with obesity), liver cancer, among many others. Liver and kidney problems afflict

many people in the \orld at large and particularly in lJganda the death toll due to kidney

problems seems to be on the rise according to data published by the WHO in 2011, due to lack of

specialized syslcms to diagnose and manage patients with kidney and liver problems early.

Herbal remedies have proven beneficial to several patients with liver and kidney disorders, yet

1hc main stream medical practice does not put much emphasis on such findings. This was an

cxpc!·imental study that involved the testing of Nalongo's renal/hepatic disorder potion for acute

and sub-chronic toxicity on rats and histological effects on various organs; liver. kidney. heart

intestine. lungs. The study was conducted at Mbarara and Bushenyi Districts. The extract tested

positive for terpenoids. saponins. tannins. llavonoids. diterpenes and phenolic compounds. There

\as no mortality observed during acute and sub-chronic toxicity studies, suggesting a relatively

high safety margin of the extract on experimental animals. However, some pathological changes

\,ere noted in tissues of the heart, liver and intestines of the experimental animals. As such.

recommendations arc that. more work needs to be carried out to ascertain the efficacy and dosing

regimen of the potion, whilst machinery needs to be put in place by the relevant authorities to moderate use of herbal products in Uganda.