Studies on the in Vitro Haematoxicity of Vernonia Amygdalyna Leaf Extract on Human Erythrocyte

Ethnomedicinal information from some traditional medicine practitioners revealed that V. amygdalina constitutes the bulk of the polyherbal combinations used in herbal concoction. Most of these studies are carried out in-vivo using animal models; none has been done in-vitro using erythrocyte as a model. To investigate the in-vitro haematoxicity effects of Vernonia amygdalina leaf extracts on human red blood cells using the standard percentage haemolysis of phytotoxicity determinant. The percentage haemolysis test was carried out by challenging various concentrations of Vernonia amygdalina bitter leaf extract at 125µg, 250µg, 500µg and 1000µg suspended in human red blood cells at room temperature, then viewed microscopically using the X10, X20 and x40 objective lenses respectively to study the morphology of the red blood cells . The haematotoxicity effect of bitter leaves showed observable effect from the 125µg to 1000µg with maximum effect as represented by the graded haemolysis which increased with the increase in bitter leaves extract concentrations (P<0.05). These findings suggest the ability of the tested plant leaves to cause harm to human erythrocytes though they belong to the group generally regarded as safe materials (GRAS). The GRAS tag may be subject to the route of exposure and concentration gradient. This may explain why oral exposure of human beings to bitter leaves may not pose health risk. Also, this may be due to the differences between in-vivo/in-vitro reactions.