Effect of Ingestion of Ethanol Extract of Garcinia Kola Seed on Erythrocytes in Wistar rats.

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of ingestion of crude ethanol extract of Garcinia kola seed on erythrocytes. Fifty male Wistar rats with average weight of 200g were divided into 5 treatment groups of 10 rats per group. Group A, served as the control and was fed with standard animal feed only while groups B, C, D and E which were the treatment groups, in addition were force-fed 2 g/kg/rat/day of the Ethanol extract of Garcinia kola seed for 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks respectively by means of an endogastric tube and syringe. At the end of the experimental period for each group the animals were sacrificed and the erythrocyte number, packed cell volume (PCV), and heamogloin concentration values were determined. The result on analysis showed that erythrocyte-count, PCV and haemoglobin concentration values showed significantly decreased values [P < 0.05] between group B (week 1) and Group A, but groups C, D and E values showed a steady rise which were not significant [P < 0.05] when compared with Group A. None of the values fell below the normal physiological range of the experimental animals. This shows that Garcinia kola seed which has flavonoids as its active constituent has no long term significant toxicological implication with respect to the concentration given on the erythrocytes of mammals.