Hypoglycaemic and secondary complication ameliorating effects of solvent fractions of Bauhinia Thonningii in experimental diabetic rats

Background: Bauhinia thonningii is a flowering plant of African origin with scientifically proved medicinal values of the crude extracts. This work was designed to study the effects of solvent fractions of Bauhinia thonningii leaves on fasting glucose level and blood lipid parameters in alloxan-induced diabetic rats; towards isolation and characterization of the pure active compound. Design: Hundred milligram per kilogram body weight (100 mg/kg bw) of four different solvent fractions of the plant (n-hexane, chloroform, methanol, ethyl acetate) were orally administered to randomly allotted diabetic rats (≥200mg/dl) for 12 days. Blood samples were collected for estimation of total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), Triglycerides and Coronary Risk Index (CRI).Results: Results showed that chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions  reduced fasting blood glucose to a level comparable with reference drug  (glibenclamide). Coronary Risk Index, which is a measure of the tendency of a cardiovascular disorder, was also improved by ethyl acetate fractions of this plant. These results suggest that ethyl acetate and chloroform fractions of Bauhinia thonningii have a potent hypoglycaemic ability and are capable of reversing hyperglycaemic secondary complications. Also, results showed  that the bioactive molecules are cations. Conclusion: Findings from the study revealed that the active compound(s) are located in these fractions paving way for isolation and characterization of the active compounds

Drugs prescription pattern in dogs diagnosed with parvovirus enteritis in some veterinary clinics in Nigeria

Canine parvovirus enteritis affects predominantly puppies with a high prevalence rate in Nigeria and is characterized by diarrhea, vomiting, anorexia and leucopenia. Treatment is non-specific; hence array of medications are usually prescribed to manage the condition symptomatically. Irrational drugs prescription has been reported to be one of the causes of therapeutic failures and adverse drug reactions in veterinary medicine. This study was therefore designed to evaluate the pattern of drugs prescription in dogs diagnosed with parvovirus enteritis in some small animal clinics in Nigeria. The study was carried out in 10 states of Nigeria and Abuja. A retrospective study of drugs prescription pattern in dogs diagnosed with CPE, including polypharmacy, prescription rates, and dose regimen of gentamicin in 20 veterinary clinics were conducted from January, 2010 to December, 2014. Results showed that 554 (80.6%) of 687 patients were administered ≥4 drugs per encounter. Of the 2,482 drugs prescribed at the different clinics, antibiotics had the highest prescription rate of 42.3% (1,050). Gentamicin was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic which accounted for 23.8% (250) prescription rate. However, 57.2% (143) of the patients were under-dosed (<6mg/kg). Also, non-essential prescription of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and gastrointestinal modulating drugs, including ranitidine were observed. This study has demonstrated that most drug prescriptions for dogs with parvovirus enteritis in Nigeria are inappropriate. This could have contributed to poor therapeutic outcomes common in parvovirus enteritis management. Consequently, Veterinarians should be rational in drugs prescription in order to optimize therapeutic efficacy and minimize adverse drug effects.Keywords: Parvovirus enteritis, Prescription pattern, Gentamicin, Dog, Nigeri

Antibiotic Profiling of Bacterial Isolates Obtained from Turkey and Chicken in Selected Farms in Ibadan, Nigeria

In recent times, the prevalence of antimicrobial drug resistance has increased tremendously due to a number of factors including use of human drugs for the treatment of animal diseases, leading to the transfer of antibiotic resistance in terms of antibiotic residues in poultry meat to pathogenic bacteria. This study determined the antibiotic profiles of bacterial isolates in poultry cloacal swabs from selected farms in Ibadan. Fifty and twenty cloacal swabs were collected aseptically from turkey and chicken at Apete and University of Ibadan research farm respectively. The samples were immediately transported to the laboratory for microbiological analysis. Thus, the cloacal swabs were screened using MacConkey agar, blood agar and xylose lysine deoxycholate agar. Isolates were identified using standard microbiological techniques and tested to ten different antibiotic discs according to Kirby-Bauer procedure. Sixty-one and thirteen different isolates were detected from turkey and chicken cloacal swabs respectively. Of the turkey isolates, Pseudomonas had the highest occurrence of 25% while Escherichia coli (46%) had the highest occurrence of the chicken isolates. The Gram-negative isolates showed high resistance to augmentin (69%), streptomycin (69%), sulphamethoxazole (78%) and chloramphenicol (82%). Staphylococcus species which was the only Gram-positive isolate in this study was greatly resistant to gentamicin (83%). Both the turkey and chicken isolates had different antibiotic resistance rates and patterns with a huge percentage (86%) of them being multi-drug resistant. This work observed a higher resistance to many of the commonly used antibiotics in the poultry industry thereby, posing a public health risk since most of these drugs are used for treatment of human infections

In vivo antitrypanosomal evaluation of some medicinal plant extracts from Ogun state, Nigeria

Aqueous extracts of 5 medicinal plants comprising of the root bark of Morinda morindiodes and leaves of Tithonia diversifolia, Lippia multiflora, Ocimum gratissimum and Acalypha wilkesiana were investigated for antitrypanosomal activities in albino rats infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei. The plant extracts at 400mg/kg body weight (of rats) were administered once daily for 7 days in an established infection of 5 x 106 parasitaemia before starting treatment. There was significant reduction in parasitaemia (P< 0.05) on the 3rd day of treatment in rats treated with Morinda morindiodes, Tithonia diversifolia and Acalypha wilkesiana but parasitaemia later increased till survival time. Morinda morindiodes, a plant well known for its potents antimalarial effect, has it root bark extracts exhibiting the highest value of mean survival time (12.6+0.7) days this study. The result may probably suggest reduction in parasite virulence by Morinda morindiodes root bark extract. Keywords: Antitrypanosomal, evaluation, medicinal plants, in vivo, Ogun State, Nigeria

Toxic Effects of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Agents in Rats

The toxicosis of some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, piroxicam, indomethacin, phenylbutazone, and aspirin, which occasionally are locally used in Nigeria as rodenticides have been evaluated in rats using changes in the serum biochemical and haematological parameters as indices of toxicity. In the study, no clinical symptoms were observed in all the treatment groups except in the group of animals exposed to indomethacin which showed decreased feed intake, sluggishness, diarrhoea and some mortality were also recorded in the group. On the serum biochemical parameters, indomethacin and piroxicam caused increases in the level of total bilirubin and decreases blood urea nitrogen. Aspirin, indomethacin, and phenylbutazone produced increases in serum aspartate aminotransferase and this increase is significant (P<0.05) with the group treated with indomethacin compared to the control group. Indomethacin also caused significant (P<0.05) increase in the level of serum alanine aminotransferase. None of the treatment groups produced significant changes in haematological parameters except that indomethacin produced significant increase (P<0.05) in the total white blood cell count. Histological studies revealed that indomethacin also caused mild periportal hepatic necrosis and kupffer cell proliferation. This study therefore shows that some non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may have adverse effects in rats. Indomethacin has the greater toxic effect on rodents and this may suggest why it is marketed in Nigeria as a rodenticide

Hepatoprotective effects of ethyl acetate and chloroform extracts of Harungana madagascariensis on acetaminophen-induced toxicity in rats

This study was conducted to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of stem bark extracts of Haronga (Harungana madagascariensis) in rats using Silymarin as a reference drug and to evaluate the phytochemicals contents of the bark extracts. Pilot toxicity studies conducted with administration of three doses of extracts of H. madagascariensis did not show toxicity effects. Phytochemical tests were conducted on the extracts to determine the contents. Gradient solvent extraction using Chloroform and Ethyl acetate were carried out to obtain extracts that were tested for hepatoprotective activities in 30 Albino rats divided equally into five groups. Two groups were administered with Chloroform and Ethyl acetate extracts for 7 days, given acetaminophen (750mg/kg), continued with the extracts until day 10. One group was administered with distilled water for 7 days and then acetaminophen (750mg/kg) on day 8. Another group was given Silymarin (100mg/kg) for 7 days and acetaminophen (750mg/kg) on day 8. The rats were anaesthetized and 5ml of blood was collected from each for determining biochemical parameters. The rats were sacrificed and liver and kidney were excised for histopathology. The H. madagascariensis bark extracts contain alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins and terpenoids but lack anthraquinone and cardiac glycosides. Chloroform extracts caused increase in blood urea and creatinine levels compared to Silymarin and decrease alkaline phosphatase (ATP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels than the paracetamol group and increase in total protein compared to the ethyl acetate group. Extract of ethyl acetate showed slight difference in the level of serum biochemical parameters compared to Silymarin group making it a more effective extract. Histopathology of the liver administered with acetaminophen showed thinning of the hepatocytes but no visible lesions in the rats administered with ethyl acetate extract. In conclusion, H. madagascariensis solvent extract possessed hepatoprotective activity and Ethyl acetate extract was more potent than Chloroform extract

Histomorphometric and histopathological studies on the effect of Calotropis procera (giant milkweed) on the male reproductive organs of wistar rats

Histomorphometric and histopathological evaluations of the effects of fresh leaf extract of Calotropis procera on the reproductive organs of male wistar rats given 20mg\gm body weight of the extract once daily, orally, for varying number of days showed varying degrees of desquamation of seminiferous epithelial cells, degeneration of seminiferous tubules and presence of large-sized multinucleated cells as well as significant reduction (P < 0.05) in the seminiferous tubular diameter. The epididymis of the test rats showed cell debris, numerous immature round cells and pinkish homogenous material in the lumens while the epithelia appeared normal. There was a general reduction in the mean ductular and luminal diameter while fluctuating changes were observed in the epithelial height of the epididymis of treated rats. The accessory glands of test rats showed pinkish homogenous fluid as well as inflammatory cells in the lumen and glandular degeneration of the seminal vesicles. The result from this study revealed that Calotropis procera has a potentially deleterious effect on the testes and accessory sex organs

Lipolytic effect of Calotropis procera in the skin of wistar rats

Histopathological studies of skin samples from Wistar rats treated once daily for four weeks with 20mg/gm body weight of the fresh leaf extract of Calotropis procera by the oral route showed significant degeneration of adipose tissue in the hypodermis and partial degeneration of the dermis at the site of merging with the hypodermis. No significant histological changes were, however, observed in the stratified squamous epithelium of the epidermis. Hair follicles and sebaceous glands were not affected. It was concluded from these observations that the subcutaneous layer was the one mainly affected by the treatment with the leaf extract

Broiler behavioural repertoires and the impact of lighting condition

The welfare of animals are dependent on their immediate environment which influences their ability to exhibit certain natural behaviour that can support their growth psychologically and physiologically. Animals’ welfare and their behaviour are therefore linked, as the environment influences the welfare and the behaviour are dependent on the welfare. One of the environmental factors that influences the growth performance and other health indices in broiler is the light under which they are reared. In this review, response of broilers to two artificial light sources in their available colours and the attendant effects on their behavioural repertoire and welfare are explored. The artificial light sources most economical in the scheme of broiler production are the incandescent bulb (ICD) and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) due to their low cost when compared to light emitting diode (LED) mostly used in developed climes. It is imperative to understand the impact of these light sources in their existing colours on the behaviour and welfare of broiler chickens. Furthermore, 8 categories of broiler behaviour were explored because the knowledge of these categories is essential in understanding their welfare. Some other factors, aside artificial lighting, that could also affect the natural behaviour of broiler chickens were evaluated, though not exhaustively