Anti-Anemic Potential of a Herbal Recipe Against Phenylhydrazine-Induced Anemia in Rats

Abstract

Anemia is characterized by an abnormal decrease in the level of hemoglobin or the number of red blood cells in the blood. It is a public health problem that mainly affects pregnant women and young children. In the present study, the objective was to evaluated the anti-anemic potential of a recipe composed of three medicinal plants, Xylopia aethiopica (Dunal) A. Rich, Zanthoxylum leprieurii (GUILL) and Harungara madagascariensis (LAM), used to treat sickle cell anemia in rats. Aqueous and hydroethanol extracts of recipe composed were first prepared and quantitative phytochemical tests were carried out. Then, the anti-anemic activity of the recipe extracts was assessed. The anemia was induced in animals by intraperitoneal injection of phenylhydrazine at a repeated dose of 40 mg/kg bw for two days. Treatment was carried out with the aqueous and hydroethanol extracts of the plant recipe at doses of 400 and 800 mg/kg bw. The obtained results indicated that recipe composed contains total phenols (43.31±0.92 mg GAE/g and 33.82±0.6 mg GAE /g of dry weight), total flavonoids (17.07±0.89 mg QE and 19.76±1.15 mg QE/g of dry weight) and total tannin (8.65±0.01 mg QE and 26.5±0.95 mg Cat E/g of dry weight) in decocted and hydroethanol extracts respectively. The anemia was effectively corrected after 21 days of oral administration of the extracts to the rats. The extracts significantly increased hemoglobin (P < 0.05), red blood cell count (P < 0.001), and hematocrit (P < 0.01) as early as the 7th days of treatment compared with untreated controls. These results show that the plant recipe composed of Xylopia aethiopica, Zanthoxylum leprieurii and Harungara madagascariensis possess antianemic properties.