Vernonia amygdalina Extract Reverts Hematological and Biochemical Alterations in Rats Exposed to N-Nitroso-N-Ethyl Urea

Environmental carcinogens or exogenous carcinogens includes chemical, biological, and physical agents that have the potential to increase cancer risk because of prolonged high prevalence of exposure. Exposure can be through the respiratory, digestive, cutaneous or other possible contamination routes. N-Nitroso-N-ethyl urea (NEU), an ethylating agent has been described as a very potent transplacental teratogen and carcinogen in rodents. Plants have been investigated to protect against the effect of environmental carcinogens due to their arrays of phytochemicals. 35Female albino rats of average ages 10weeks were rats exposed to freshly prepared 3 fractionated doses of 50 mg/kg N-Nitroso-N-ethyl urea dissolved in 1/15 M phosphate buffer, given intraperitoneally and treated with varying concentrations of Vernonia amygdalina leaf aqueous extracts. At the end of the test period, hematological and biochemical parameters were determined in blood samples. Compared to the control group, the NEU exposed rats treated group showed significances in several hematological parameters, including decreases in white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC), and platelet (PLT) counts. Furthermore, in comparison to the control group, the NEU exposed rats showed significantly (p<0.05) increased blood glucose, serum total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL-cholesterol), triacylglycerols levels and igh density lipoprotein (HDL-cholesterol) level. The hematological and biochemical parameters in the NEU exposed rats treated group were similar to control group. V. amygdalina extract significantly (P<0.05) restored the hematological and biochemical parameters in N-Nitroso-N-ethyl urea exposed rats