ABSTRACT

 This study was carried out in a view to evaluate the aqueous leaf extract of Loranthus micranthus after chronic administration of paracetamol on the kidney of male wistar rats. Acute toxicity (LD50) was studied using the lorke's method in which no death or change in behavioural pattern was recorded even at a dose as high as 5000mg/kg of the leaf extract. Sixteen male wistar rats were divided randomly into four different groups of four animals each. Group 1 served as the control, group 2 received only the aqueous leaf extract(l5omg/kg), group 3 received paracetamol only(400mg/kg) and group 4 received both extract (lsomg/kg)and paracetamol (400mg/kg). the experiment covered a period of three(3)weeks . the study covered some biological parameters such as ; total protein level, serum creatinine level and total blood urea nitrogen level as well as histological studies on the organ (kidney). The total protein of the group that received paracetamol showed a significantly (p

<0.05) lower total protein suggesting possible toxicity or obstruction in the process of protein synthesis. Though the total protein of the group that received 150mg/kg of loranthus micranthus was higher than that of the paracetamol group, it was significantly (p><0.05) lower than that of the control group. There was a significant (p><0.05) increase in the concentration of creatinine of the paracetamol group when compared to that of the control group. There was a significant (p><0.05) increase in the concentration of urea of the paracetamol group when compared to that of the control group suggesting possible kidney damage. Increase in urea concentration is usually associated with kidney impairment. The urea concentration of the group that received A. mistletoe (Loranthus micranthus linn) alone was comparatively similar compared to that of the normal group. The result have shown that Loranthus micranthus linn a traditional folklore medicinal plant may provide therapeutic potentials in the management of paracetamol induced damages. >