ABSTRACT

In recent times, the cultivation of Orange Flesh Sweet Potato (OFSP) has advanced its industrial applications due to its high β-carotene and dry matter content. This study was aimed at evaluating the hepatoprotective and antihyperlipidaemic effects of OFSP juice. A total of 85 male Sprague Dawley rats (80-120g)      were used for this study. Sixty rats were used for the hepatoprotective (preventive and curative) study. The animals were grouped into five groups; Group 1- Normal control, Group 2- Untreated, Group 3- Silymarin, Groups 4 – 5 (300 and 600 mg/kg body weight of OFSP, respectively). Twenty-five (25) rats were used for the antihyperlipideamic study consisting of five groups; Group 1- High fat diet control (HFDC), Group 2- Low fat diet control (LFDC), Group 3- 200 mg/kg b. w of OFSP, Group 4- 400 mg/kg b. w. of OFSP, Group 5- 600 mg/kg b. w. of OFSP. The biochemical analyses were determined using standard biochemical methods. The results indicated significant (p<0.05) decrease in the total bilirubin (TB) concentrations of the OFSP-treated preventive (12.02 ± 0.39) and curative (4.35 ± 0.21) groups compared to the untreated preventive (20.97 ± 1.27) and curative (17.22 ± 0.20) groups of the rats. There were also significant (p<0.05) decrease in the CB, AST, ALT and ALP activities in the OFSP treated groups relative to the untreated in the preventive and curative models. The haemoglobin concentration (HB) 9.51 ± 0.26, packed cell volume (PCV) 28.43 ± 0.32, red blood cell (RBC) 5.44 ± 0.25, total lymphocyte count (TLC) 11.95 ± 0.13 and platelet count (PLAT) 115.70 ± 0.85 were significantly (p<0.05) increased in the OFSP treated group when compared to the untreated and silymarin-treated group. There were no visible histological changes (alterations) in the OFSP-treated groups compared to the untreated group. For the antihyperlipidaemic study, the cholesterol concentration was 65.06 ± 10.25 in the high fat diet control, 52.24 ± 6.72 in the low fat diet control and 61.22 ± 1.52 for the OFSP treated group this showed that there was no significant (p<0.05) difference in the OFSP treated group and HFDC/LFDC. Triglyceride also showed no significant (p<0.05) difference in the OFSP (89.64±9.06) and the HFDC (105.74±16.52)/LFDC (78.50±1.67) group while High density lipoprotein (HDL) showed a significant (p<0.05) increase in the OFSP treated group (29.92±1.85) compared to the HFDC (15.56±2.10), LDL and VLDL showed a significant (0.05) decrease in the OFSP treated group compared to the HFDC. It is concluded from this study that OFSP juice can ameliorate liver damage and may have a mild antihyperlipidaemic potential.