A preliminary study on the toxicity and novelty-induced behavioral effects of herbal medicine (Mama Decoction ® ) in rats

Mama decoction (MD) is a commonly used formulated herbal product in Nigeria for the management of malaria; no study on its central and possible toxicological effects have been investigated, hence this study.  MD was administered orally to rats at 143, 286, and 572 mg/kg daily for 30 days.  Novelty-induced behavior was observed and recorded on both day 1 and day 30 of administration. Furthermore, mortality, biochemical and histopathological tests were evaluated appropriately. The animals were sacrificed on day 30 after the behavioral scoring and blood samples obtained for biochemical assays.  Histopathological examinations of the liver, kidney, brain, spleen, testes and lungs were carried out. The results showed that acute oral administrations of MD had no significant effect on locomotion at all dose levels used on Day 1 while during the subchronic administration of MD, only the dose of 286 mg/kg had significant effect on locomotion. Furthermore, the grooming behavior was significantly (p<0.01) decreased dose-dependently. Biochemical analysis showed that sub-chronic administration of MD caused significant decrease in both triglyceride and cholesterol levels but caused a significant increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in the plasma.  In the liver, triglyceride, cholesterol and ALT were significantly decreased while AST was significantly increased but it had no effect on the ALP. The histopathological analysis revealed that most of the organs were essentially normal. In conclusion, the study showed that oral administration of MD is relatively safe when used within the recommended maximum dose of 286 mg/kg, however, there is need for caution in using it for a long period.   Key words: Azadirachta indica, Alstonia boonei, Morinda lucida, Mangifera indica,biochemical, sub-chronic toxicity.