Effect of Biherbal Aqueous Extract of Ocimum Gratissimum and Psidium Guajava Leaves on Heamatological Parameters

Student: Augustina Iyahen (Project, 2025)
Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology
University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State


Abstract

Psidium guajava L. is a tropical shrub tree and food plant that belongs to the Myrtaceae family. It is an economically important food plant with diverse medicinal properties. In traditional medicine it is used to treat and manage cough, diarrhoea, brain dysfunction, heart diseases, cancer, diabetes and so on. Ocimum gratissimum L. of the family Lamiaceae is popularly known as basil and is a shrub found in tropical and subtropical regions. This study aimed to investigate the effect of biherbal aqueous extract of Psidium guajava and ocimum gratissimum leaves on haematological parameters in rats. The haematological parameters include; white blood cells (WBC) and its differentials, red blood cells (RBC), Haemoglobin (HGB), Hematocrit (HCT), Mean corpuscular volume (MCV), Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), Red cell distribution width (RCDW), White blood cells (WBC), Lymphocyte Count (LYM) Platelets (PLT), Platelet crit (PCT), Platelet density width (PDW), and Mean platelet volume (MPV) in Wistar rats. Graded doses (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg) of the biherbal aqueous extract were orally administered to explore the heamatopathological effect of the plant extract. The result from this present study showed a significant increase across graded doses, precisely at 50 and 100 mg/kg in white blood cell count and its differentials (WBC= 6.10, 6.20 103/µL; MID = 8.45, 6.50, 9.00 %; LYM = 6.75, 5.45, 5.30 103/µL). The result obtained from the red blood cells and its component had a slight significant increase in RBC at (7.66, 7.75, 7.44 106/µL; MCV = 54.70, 57.60, 58.10 µM3; RDWS = 36.30, 39.55, 37.37 µM3). Also, the platelet and its factors displayed a significant increase across graded doses of the extract onf the PLT (178418.00, 222510.00, 8645.00 103 µ/L; PDW (13.80, 12.80, 12.65 %); and PCT (1.59, 2.35, 0.98 %) compared with the control. Conclusively, the biherbal aqueous extract across the graded doses probably has a hematoprotective effect with corresponding ethnomedicinal value.

Keywords
Ocimum gratissimum Psidium guajava aqueous extract hematological parameters blood analysis medicinal plants herbal medicine guava leaves scent leaf antioxidant activity