Effects of Kolaviron on Pneumonia-like Infection Induced in Albino Wistar Rats.

Background: Pneumonia is an acute or chronic inflammatory disorder of the lungs, affecting the mucosal areas of the lung. It can be caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi. In some cases, it may be caused by physical or chemical irritants. Kolaviron, a natural bioflavonoid extract from Garcinia kola seeds, has been shown to possess anti-inflammatory properties in Flu-like conditions which are associated with cough. There has been a paucity of information on the likelihood of the effectiveness of kolaviron against pneumonia infections.

Objective: To evaluate the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects of kolaviron on albino Wistar rats induced with pneumonia using Klebsiella pneumonia.

Materials and methods: Powdered Garcinia kola seeds were extracted with n-hexane and 100% methanol as solvents by using Soxhlet extractor. A standard method was used to obtain kolaviron from the seed extracts. A total of 24 albino Wistar rats were randomly divided into six groups A to F, each comprising four rats. The rats were allowed to acclimatize for 1 hour in very cold environments using ice packs. A standardized 1.0 x10 ^-5 mg/ml culture suspension was intranasally inoculated to the rats for 10 days to induce pneumonia-like symptoms. Thereafter, the kolaviron was administered to the rats such that a 500mg/kg kolaviron extract was given once daily to groups A (male rats) and B (female rats). Groups C (male rats) and D (female rats) received 250mg/kg of kolaviron extract once daily, while group E rats were given 0.5 ml of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) once daily, which served as the negative control. The rats in Group F received 2.86 mg/kg of ofloxacin once daily and served as the positive control. All the treatments were done for a period of 5 days. Then 10 days after the treatments, the animals were sacrificed and the lungs were harvested for hydrostatic lung test and histopathological examination. An overnight broth culture of Klebsiella pneumonia was streaked in sterile molten nutrient agar maintained at 37°C for 24hrs. Later, a stock of 500mg/ml of kolaviron was prepared in DMSO. Two-fold dilutions were performed to obtain the following concentrations of 100%, 50%, 25%, 12.5%, 6.25%, 3.125%, and 1.565% with the stock. The anti-Klebsiella pneumonia activity of the kolaviron extract was determined using agar well diffusion methods and incubation was done at 37 o C for 24 hrs. Student t-test and Oneway Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for comparison of mean differences between and among the groups.

Results and discussion: The sensitivity of Klebsiella pneumonia to kolaviron was concentration- dependent. There was an increase in anti-Klebsiella pneumonia activity with a decrease in kolaviron concentration. Kolaviron (KV), at 500mg/kg concentration, was efficacious and showed significant anti-inflammatory effects (P<0.0001). This was also confirmed in the histopathological examinations. The 3.125% concentration of the kolaviron gave IZDs that ranged from 25.68±3.33 mm on day 1 to 27.33±2.78 mm on day 5. Treatment with kolaviron showed to be sex-dependent with a significant difference (p<0.0001), when pre-treatment and post-treatment effects were compared between male and female rats.

Conclusion: Kolaviron can be used as an agent in the treatment of pneumonia as it possesses anti- inflammatory and anti-Klebsiella pneumonia activities.