Antianaemic potential of aqueous leaf extract of Mucuna pruriens on wister albino rats

Antianaemic potential of aqueous leaf extract of Mucuna pruriens (Agbala) was studied using wister Albino rats. Nine rats were used for this study; three of those rats each were placed on raw extract, heat-treated extract while the remaining three rats were used as control. The rats were fed for three weeks and then blood samples collected for haematological analyses. The results of this investigation for rats fed with raw extract, heat-treated extract and distilled water showed that haemoglobin (Hb) level was 10.68±0.010g/dl, 10.51±0.015g/dl and 10.30±0.010g/dl; packed cell volume (PCV) was 31.69±0.015%, 31.66+0.015% and 31.01+0.012% while total protein level was 77.35+0.05g/l, 78.28+0.028g/l and 66.00+0.05g/l respectively. The results show that there were significant increases (P<0.05) in Hb, PCV and total protein of the test group rats compared to the control group rats. Consequently, there was a significant decrease in the level of albumin with the corresponding values 37.70±0.015g/l, 37.26±0.14g/l and 39.55+0.051g/l for the raw extract, heat treated extract and control groups respectively. The results of this study showed that aqueous extract of Agbala leaf improved the total protein level of the treated rats thereby increasing the Hb and PCV levels of the rats. This is suggestive that aqueous leaf extract of Mucuna pruriens (Agbala) may be implored in the treatment of anaemia.