Biochemical changes in the liver, kidney and serum of rats exposed to ethanolic leaf extract of Ziziphus spina-christi

Ziziphus spina-christi has been used in traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of fever and inflammatory conditions. However, few studies had assessed its toxicological effects. This study was designed to investigate the effect of ethanolic leaf extract of Z. spina-christi on biochemical markers of kidney and liver functions. Fourteen male Wistar albino rats were randomly assigned into two groups. Group I was the control group while group II received oral dose of 400 mg/kg ethanolic leaf extract daily for 14 days. On the 15th day of treatment, rats were sacrificed and some biochemical parameters were evaluated. Then, liver, kidney and heart were taken, weighed and relative organ weight was calculated. Oral dose of leaf extract significantly (P<0.05) increased rats? serum levels of lactate dehydrogenase and total bilirubin while had no significant effect on the other liver enzymes. On the other hand, treatment with the extract significantly increased insulin level, decreased triglyceride level and had no significant effect on the other lipid profile components. Kidney function parameters were not significantly affected by the extract treatment. However, relative liver and heart weight ratios were significantly reduced in (P<0.05) treated rats. The results of this study have shown that oral administration of the ethanolic leaf extract of Z. spina-christi did not have deleterious effect on liver, kidney and serum biochemical parameters at the dosage used