Phytochemical composition and toxicity study of the aqueous extract of the leaves of Vernonia colorata (Willd.) Drake in Wistar rats

The aim of the work is to study phytochemical composition and acute and subacute toxicities of the aqueous extract of leaves of Vernonia colorata (AEVC). The acute toxicity study was performed by administering a single oral dose of AEVC of 5000 mg/kg body weight (bw) to female Wistar rats. For toxicity study, the treatments were administered orally for 28 consecutive days. The control group received distilled water (10 mg/kg bw). The test groups received doses of 100, 500 and 1000 mg/kg bw respectively and the satellite groups received distilled water (satellite control) and extract at the maximum dose of 1000 mg/kg bw (satellite). Acute toxicity assessment showed that the LD50 is greater than 5000 mg/kg bw. The study of the biochemical parameters showed a very significant decrease (p ˂ 0.01) in ALAT at a dose of 100 mg/kg bw, thus reflecting the extract hepatoprotective effect. The results also showed an arise of phosphatemia (p ˂ 0.01) at doses of 500 and 1000 mg/kg bw. For the hematological parameters, the red blood cell count increased significantly (p ˂ 0.05) at the dose of 100 and 500 mg/kg bw and very significantly (p ˂ 0.01) at the dose of 1000 mg/kg bw. On the other hand, a highly significant (p ˂ 0.001) decrease in platelets was observed. From these results, we conclude that in therapy, the use of Vernonia colorata extract in the medium term would not present a risk of toxicit.