THE EFFECT OF AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF Hibiscus Sabdariffa L. ON THE ACTIVITY OFALKALINE PHOSPHATASE AND URIC ACID IN THE LIVER OF Rattus novergicus

The effect of aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. on the activity of alkaline phosphatase and uric acid in the liver of Rattus novergicus was studied in this research. The result from this study revealed that the activities of alkaline phosphatase in the serum slightly increased (18.00±3.39) when compared with that of the control (16.37±3.50) at (P<0.05) (Table. 1), though this was not statistically significant but there was a statistically significant increase in the serum uric acid (0.17±0.21) when compared with the control (0.016±0.02) at P<0.05 (Table 1). The result from the investigation of liver alkaline phosphatase, showed that there was a slight increase (4.31±3.39) when compared with that of the control (3.84±2.02) at P<0.05 (Table.2).However, liver uric acid level of the test group was increased (0.50±0.15) when compared with the control (0.27±0.09) (Table 2). The results of the study suggest that zobo drink at the level of administration (140ml 3 times a day), has no serious health implication on the liver and that Hibiscus Sabdariffa.L may be very rich in purine substances because, any food food/drink rich in purines, when consumed, increases the uric acid level in serum which is not regarded as health threat..If the increase in liver ALP was statistically significant, then one would have queried that the consumption of ZOBO drink may cause problem. But as it is from this study, the researcher is of the view that consumption of zobo drink is healthy.