Ekong Moses B, Peter Mine D, Peter Aniekan I, Eluwa Mokutima A, Umoh Idorenyin U, Igiri Anozeng O, Ekanem Theresa B
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria,
Metab Brain Dis. 2014 Jun;29(2):521-7. doi: 10.1007/s11011-013-9453-8. Epub 2013 Nov 21.
Rauwolfia vomitoria and Gongronema latifolium are medicinal herbs used for the treatment of hypertension, malaria, mental and intestinal disorders. G. latifolium is known to prevent the side effects reported for R. vomitoria. Therefore we decided to investigate what effects a combination treatment of G. latifolium and R. vomitoria would have on mice. Thirty male mice weighing 15-26 g were divided into 4 groups of 6 mice each. Groups 2, 3 and 4 were the treatment groups, and were treated with 150 mg/kg of R. vomitoria root bark extract, 200 mg/kg of G. latifolium leaf extract, and combination of both extracts, respectively. The control group received 0.5 mL of 20% Tween. The treatments were by oral gavages and lasted for 7 days. The open field maze neurobehavioural test was performed on day 8 to ascertain locomotion, exploration and anxiety, and the animals were immediately sacrificed. Results indicate lower body weights, though no difference was seen in the brain weights and behavioural test parameters in the treatment groups compared with the control group. Neurohistology of the cerebellum showed slight hypertrophy of Purkinje cells, with brain matrix loss in treatment groups 2 and 3, but group 4 showed no apparent histopathology. The cellular population was higher, while the cellular sizes and total cellular areas were lower in all the treatment groups. This study showed that R. vomitoria root bark and G. latifolium leaf extracts may individually cause cerebellar cytoarchitecture changes, which may be prevented with the combination of both remedies.
催吐萝芙木和宽叶腰骨藤是用于治疗高血压、疟疾、精神和肠道疾病的草药。已知宽叶腰骨藤可预防催吐萝芙木报告的副作用。因此，我们决定研究宽叶腰骨藤和催吐萝芙木联合治疗对小鼠的影响。将30只体重15 - 26克的雄性小鼠分成4组，每组6只。第2、3和4组为治疗组，分别用150毫克/千克的催吐萝芙木根皮提取物、200毫克/千克的宽叶腰骨藤叶提取物以及两种提取物的组合进行治疗。对照组接受0.5毫升20%吐温。治疗通过口服灌胃进行，持续7天。在第8天进行旷场迷宫神经行为测试以确定运动、探索和焦虑情况，然后立即处死动物。结果表明，治疗组的体重较低，不过与对照组相比，脑重和行为测试参数没有差异。小脑的神经组织学显示浦肯野细胞有轻微肥大，第2和3治疗组存在脑基质损失，但第4组没有明显的组织病理学变化。所有治疗组的细胞数量较多，而细胞大小和总细胞面积较小。这项研究表明，催吐萝芙木根皮提取物和宽叶腰骨藤叶提取物可能各自导致小脑细胞结构变化，而两种药物联合使用可能会预防这种变化。
