Assessment of chronic administration of Aloe vera gel on haematology, plasma biochemistry, lipid profiles and erythrocyte osmotic resistance in Wistar rats.

The study was designed to investigate the effects of chronic administration of Aloe vera gel extract on markers of hepatic damage, lipid profiles and erythrocyte osmotic fragility using the Wistar rats. Forty male Wistar rats divided into four groups of ten rats per group were used in the study. Group I which served as the control received 0.9% physiological saline while those in groups II, III and IV received Aloe vera gel (100, 250 and 500mg/kg), respectively, for four weeks. There was significant increase in the haemoglobin concentration while the PCV, RBC count, MCH and MCHC though showed some marginal increases but the increases were not significant in all the treated rats. No significant change was also observed in the erythrocyte osmotic fragility. However, there were significant reductions in plasma ALT, AST and ALP levels in animals that received the gel compared with the control while the plasma albumin and total protein values were higher than those of the control. All the animals that received the gel also showed significant reduction in plasma total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL-cholesterol ratio compared with the control. In a similar manner, those animals that were administered with 500mg/kg gel had significantly higher HDL-cholesterol ratio than those of the control. This study showed that, chronic administration of Aloe vera gel extract had no significant effects on the haematological parameters of the rats and did not affect erythrocyte osmotic resistance. It however showed some cholesterol lowering action.