Antioxidative Potential of Ageratum Conyzoides and Zanthoxylum Zanthoxyloides Extracts in Cadmium-Induced Oxidative Stress in Rat Tissues

There is a growing interest in preventive medicine for the evaluation and development of natural antioxidants from medicinal plants. The current research is a comparative study designed to investigate in vivo effects of two common African herbs: Ageratum conyzoides stem bark and Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides leaves on antioxidants status in the brain, kidney and liver of wistar albino rats intoxicated with sublethal concentration of cadmium chloride (5mg/mg bw). Thirty albino rats grouped into six were administered varying concentration of methanolic extracts of the herbs for 21 days. Analysis of post-mitochondrial fractions of the brain, kidney and liver of the rats showed that cadmium chloride caused oxidative stress in the tissues characterized by significant depletion in antioxidants capacity (catalase, superoxIde dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione transferase) and elevation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). Administration of Ageratum conyzoides and Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides extracts significantly boosted the antioxidant capacity in the tissues while they also reduced TBARS with Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides exhibiting a better protective activity. We demonstrate in this study that Ageratum conyzoides leaves and Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides stem bark possess antioxidant properties which might play important roles in providing protection against oxidative organ damage.