| dc.description.abstract | In developing countries, herbal medicines are largely prioritized due to cultural acceptability, ready availability and low cost.Although some herbal medicines have promising potential and are widely used, many of them remain untested and their use also not monitored. Therefore,this study aimed at evaluating the acute dermal toxicity of the aqueous leaf extract of Azadirachta indicaused in the treatment of acne. A controlled experimental study which involved extraction, phytochemical screening, acute dermal toxicity testing, cutaneous LD50determination, observation of clinical manifestation and histopathological examination was carried out in Wistar albino rats. Four experimental groups were used each containing three wistar rats. Animals in groups1, 2 and 3 were topically administered with4ml of 4000mg/kg, 8000mg/kg and 10,000mg/kgof aqueous extract of A. indicarespectively whileGroup 4 received 4ml of distilled water (Negative control). The differences in the mean weight, water intake and feed intake between the control and treatment groups was determined using repeated measure One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and their respective p values were reported at 0.05 level of significance. The most abundant phytochemicals were Saponins, Flavonoids, Tannins and phenolic compounds. Few hours after application of the extract, many animals from the test and control groups showed some signs of discomfort and restlessness by movements around the cage. After 24 hours, very slight and moderate erythema/oedema on skin was observed in the treatment group subjected to 8000mg/kg and 10000 mg/kg body weight dose of Azadirachta indica extract respectively. At 4000 mg/kg body weight, there was skin erosion,at 8000 mg/kg body weight there was incomplete healing, erosion of epidermis and loss of keratin layer in the skin. At 10000 mg/kg body weight healing was complete but keratin layer not deposited. The LD50of A. indicawas greater than 10000 mg/kg body weight. There was a statistically significant difference in the amount of water(P-value 0.0004) andamountof feeds (P-value <0.0001)takenbycontrol group and treatmentgroup that received 10000 kg/mg body weight dose. There was a statistically significant difference in the weight of the animals inall treatment groups when compared tothe control group (p value <0.05).There should also be more understanding into the sub-chronic and chronic dermal toxicity of A. indica extract. Further studies should be done on other experimental animals to ascertain the variability in the dermal toxicity of aqueous extract of A. indicaon other speciesKey words: Acute dermal toxicity, A. indica, Wistar albino rats, phytochemicals | en_US |
