Abstract

Background of Study: Pumpkin leaves (Telfairia occidentalis) are extensively used in homes in Nigeria and some West African Countries for soup making and sometimes extracted in water for drinking as medicament for stimulating erythropoiesis. 

Aim and Objectives: The present study aims at evaluating the in-vitro effect of pumpkin leaves extract on human erythrocytes with an interest in obtaining base data on the phyto-toxicity. 

Methods: Pumpkin leaves weighing 250g was extract in 250 ml cold distilled water to obtain a stock solution of 1gm/ml pumpkin leaves extract. The stock solution was further diluted in sterile test tubes to obtain a concentration range of 10µg/m/, 20µg/m/, 40µg/m/ to 640µg/m/ using cold sterile distilled water. The test proper required the addition of 0.5ml of each pumpkin leaves extracted concentration to a sterile test tube containing 2.5ml of 5% human erythrocyte in sterile physiological saline and allowed to remain at room temperature (27 + 1^oc)for 30 minutes. The heamolysis occurring in the tubes was read spectrophometrically (Cornings) at 540nm wavelength along with the neat and saline control. 

Result: The absorbance reading reflected corresponding increases in the concentration of pumpkin leaves extract using phosphate buffer as negative control and Triton X as positive control (100% heamolysis) this showed a significant increase in toxicity in vitro as the concentration gradient is increased, the least concentration with stability of the erythrocyte in vitro as compared with the phosphate buffer is termed an equivalent for the determination of toxicity in erythrocyte in vitro - in vivo by other phyto products. 

Conclusion The data obtained from this study has value in determining phytotoxicity with pumpkin leaves and any other phyto products on human erythrocytes with all its determining variables in consideration.

Keywords: In vitro/In vivo; Hemolysis; Phyto Toxicity; Erythrocytes; Telfairia occidentalis; Spectrophotometrically; Biokinetics; Triton x

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Citation

Citation: Ibeh NI., et al. “Phyto-Toxicity and Biokinetics of Pumpkin Leaves Extract on Human Erythrocytes, In Vitro Study".Acta Scientific Biotechnology 1.2 (2020): 21-25.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Ibeh NI., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.