[01] Olubayode Bamidele, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria. [02] Temitope Ibiere Adebiyi, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria. [03] Lawrence Dayo Babatunde, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria. [04] Dennis Seyi Arokoyo, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria.

Basella alba L. is claimed to be used as an antidote for poisons but has not been scientific adequately explored. This work investigated the effect of ethanolic extract of Basella alba on lead- induced hepatotoxicity in male rats. 24 male albino Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups. Group 1 was given orally 10ml/kg normal saline while Group 2 received 50mg/kg of Lead Acetate for 4 weeks. Group 3 received 50mg/kg of Lead Acetate for first week and 250mg/kg Basella alba for 3 weeks. Group 4 received 250mg/kg of Basella alba for first week and 50mg/kg of Lead Acetate for the next 3 weeks. Then, levels of the liver enzymes in the serum were measured. The results showed that the levels of alkaline phosphatase, Aspartate aminotransferase and Alanine aminotransferase were significantly reduced while Glutathione was significantly increased in Basella alba treated Groups compared to Lead Control Group at (p < 0.05). The data suggests that Basella alba reduces lead toxicity.

Basella alba, Lead, Hepatotoxicity, Liver Enzymes, Albino Rat

[01] Abalaka M., Oyewole O.A. and Kolawole A.R. (2011). Antibacterial Activities of Azadirachta Indica against Some Bacterial Pathogens. Journal of Microbiology Research; 1(2): 6-8. [02] Abalaka M. E., and Oyewole O.A. (2011). Antibacterial Activities of Asmina triloba against Some Bacterial Pathogens. Journal of Microbiology Research; 1(1): 5-7. [03] Aziz F.M., Maulood I.M. and Chawsheen M.A.H. (2012). Effects of melatonin, vitamin C and E alone or in combination on lead-induced injury in liver and kidney organs of rats. IOSR Journal of Pharmacy; 2(5): 13-18. [04] Bamidele O, Akinnuga A.M., Olorunfemi J.O., Odetola O.A., Oparaji C.K. and Ezeigbo N. (2010). Effects of aqueous extract of Basella alba leaves on haematological and biochemical parameters in albino rats. African Journal of Biotechnology; 9(41):6952-6955. [05] Bechara E.J.H. (2004). Lead poisoning and oxidative stress. Free Radical Biological Medicine; 36: 22. [06] Budd P., Montgomery J., Cox A., Krause P., Barreiro B., Thomas R.G. (1998). The distribution of lead within ancient and modern human teeth: implications for long-term and historical exposure monitoring. Science Total Environment; 220(2-3):121-36. [07] Cornelius C.E., (1979). Biochemical evaluation of hepatic function in dogs. Journal of American Animal Hospital Association; 15: 25-29. [08] Cretacci Y. and Parsons P.J. (2010). Localized accumulation of lead within and among bones from lead-dosed goats. Environ Res; 110: 26-32. [09] Daniel M. (2006). Medicinal plants: chemistry and properties. Science publishers, New Hampshire, USA. P. 198. [10] Das S., Bandyopadhyay S., Ramasamy A., Mondal S. (2014). Evaluation of hepatoprotective activity of aqueous extract of leaves of Basella alba in albino rats. Natural Product Research; 29(11):1-6. [11] Dickinson D.A., Moellering D.R., Iles K.E., Patel R.P., Levonen A.L. and Wigley A. (2003). Cytoprotection against oxidative stress and the regulation of glutathione synthesis. Biological Chemistry; 384: 527-537. [12] Duke J.A. and Ayensu E.S. (1985). Medicinal Plants of China. Reference Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-917256-20-4. [13] Eliana F.O., Paulo C.S., Milton C.C. (2007). Stability of anthocyamin in spainach vine (Basella rubra) fruits. Cien. Inv. Agr. 34(2): 115-120. [14] Ellman G.C. (1959). Tissue sulfhydryl groups. Archives of biochemistry and biophysics; 82: 70-77. [15] Flegal A.R. and Smith D.R. (1995). Measurements of environmental lead contamination and human exposure. Revolution of Environmental Contamination Toxicology; 143:1-45. [16] Garaza A., Vega R. and Soto E. (2006). Cellular mechanisms of lead neurotoxicity. Medical Science Monitor; 12(3): 57-65. [17] Grubben G.J.H. and Denton O.A. (2004). Plant Resources of tropical African vegetables. PROTA Foundation Wageningen; Backhuys Leiden (CTA) Wageningen; 4:103-110. [18] Jachak S.M. and Saklani A. (2007). Challenges and opportunities in drug discovery from plants. Journal of Current Science; 92(1):1251-1257. [19] Jackie T., Haleagrahara N. and Chakravarthi S. (2011). Antioxidant effects of Etlingera elatior flower extract against lead acetate -induced perturbations in free radical scavenging enzymes and lipid peroxidation in rats. BMC Research Notes; 4:67-75. [20] Kayode A.A. and Kayode O.T. (2011). Some Medicinal Values of Telfairia occidentalis: A Review. American Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; 1:30-38. [21] Khan M.S.H., Mostafa M.S., Hossain M.A. and Sayed M.A. (2008). Effect of garlic and vitamin B-complex in lead acetate induced toxicities in mice. Bangladesh Journal of Veterinary Medicine; 6(2): 203-210. [22] Kumar S., Prasad A.K., Iyer S.V., Vaidya S.K. (2013). Systemic pharmacognostical, phytochemical and pharmacological review on an ethnomedicinal plant, Basella alba L. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy; 5(4):53-58. [23] Newman D.J. (2003). Natural products as sources of new drugs over the period 1981-2002. Journal of Natural Products; 66: 1022-1037. [24] Nriagu J.O. and Pacyna J.M. (1988). Quantitative assessment of worldwide contamination of air, water and soils by trace metals. Nature; 333:134-139. [25] Nwokocha C.R., Nwokocha M.I., Owu D.U., Obi J., Olatunde B., Ebe C., Nwangwu O. and Iwuala M.O. (2012). Comparative analysis on the effect of palm oil (Elaeis guineensis) in reducing cadmium and lead accumulation in liver of Wistar rats. Pharmacognosy Research; 4(4): 214-218. [26] Olaniyi T.A., Adeniran S.A., Adebayo L.A., Olusegun K.A. and Oyedeji T.A. (2013). Antioxidant and anti-lipid peroxidation potentials of the ethylacetate and chloroform extracts of basella alba leaves. Asian journal of natural and applied sciences; 2(2): 86. [27] Reitman S. and Frankel A.S. (1957). A ccolorimetric method for the determination of serum glutamic oxaloacetic and glutamic pyruvic transaminase. American journal of clinical pathology; 28:53-56. [28] Rodda R., Kota A., Sindhuri T., Kumar S.A. and Gnananath K. (2012). Investigation on anti-inflammatory property of Basella alba Linn leaf extract. International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; 4(1): 452-454. [29] Shalan M.G., Mostafa M.S., Hassouna M.M., El-Nabi S.E. and El-Refaie A. (2005). Amelioration of lead toxicity on rat liver with vitamin C and silymarin supplements. Toxicology; 206: 1-15. [30] Sharma A., Sharma V. and Kansal L. (2010). Amelioration of lead-induced hepatotoxicity by Allium sativum extracts in Swiss albino mice. Libyan journal of Medicine; 5: 4621. [31] Sharma R.P. and Street J.C. (1980). Public health aspects of toxic heavy metals in animal feeds. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association; 177(2):149–153. [32] Shi J., Arunasalam K., Yeung D., Kakuda Y., Mittal G. and Jiang Y. (2004). Saponins from edible legumes: chemistry, processing and health benefits. Journal of Med Food; 7(1): 67-78. [33] Simons T. (1993). Lead-calcium interactions in cellular lead toxicity. Neurotoxicology; 14: 77-86. [34] Toshiyuki M., Kazuhiro H. and Masayuki Y. (2001). Medicinal foodstuffs XXIII structures of new oleanane- type Triterpene- oligoglycosides, Basellasaponins A, B, C and D from the fresh aerial parts of Basella rubra L. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin; 49: 776 - 779. [35] Woolf A.D. (2007). Update on the clinical management of childhood lead poisoning. Pediatric Clinics of North America; 54(2): 271–294. [36] World Medical Association (2002). Americal Physiological Society.Guiding principles for research involving animals and human beings. Am. J. Physiol. Reg. Integr. Comp. Physiol., 283: 281-283. [37] Xu Y., Li G., Han C., Sun L., Zhao R. and Cui S. (2005). Protective effect of Hippophae rhamnoides L. juice on lead-induced neurotoxicity in mice. Biological and Pharmacological Bulletin; 28:490-494. [38] Yasmin H., Abul Kaisar M.D., Moklesur M.R.S., Mohammed S.R. and Mohammad A.R. (2009). Preliminary Antibacterial Activity of Some Indigenous Plants of Bangladesh, Dhaka University. Journal of Pharm Science; 8(1): 61-65.