Trypanocidal activity and heamatological changes in T. brucei infected rats treated with methanolic leaf extract of Thymus vulgaris.

Abstract

Drugs for African trypanosomiasis are beset with different problems including cost, toxicity and increasing resistance. Therefore, the search for new drug lead and formulations that are safe, affordable and effective against both early and late stages of the disease is highly recommended. In this study, the efficacy of locally used medicinal spice T. v u l g a r i s in the treatment of trypanosomiasis was investigated. Two different stages of infection (prophylactic and early) were investigated using a dose of 500mg/kg body weight. The two groups were observed to show low rate of replication of parasite and extension of surviving days (8 days) than that of the infected not treated (6 days). Also, some haematological changes in T. brucei infected rats treated with methanolic extract of thymus vulgaris leave were investigated. The result show significant decrease (P<0.05) in packed cell volume (PCV) of infected not treated compared to infected prophylactic treated and infected early treated. There was also significant decrease haemoglobin (Hb) concentration and red blood cell (RBC) count of infected not treated compared to infected prophylactic treated (72 hrs before inoculation) and infected early treated (After sighting of parasite). Whereas, there was no significant change in white blood cell (WBC) count of infected not treated group compared to uninfected untreated (normal) group. Therefore, this investigation showed that T. vulgaris has antitrypanosomal potentials by ameliorating effect caused by T. brucei infection on some haematologicals parameters.