Anti-oxidant and Anti-inflammatory Properties of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranean verde L.) Condiment Extract (BGNCE) in Castor oil-induced Diarrhoeal Rats

Abstract

Past works have established that bambara groundnut seeds are used in the treatment
and prevention of diarrhoea. The mechanism by which bambara-groundnut
condiment extract (BGNCE) prevents diarrhoea was studied by assessing the anti
inflammatory as well as anti-oxidant properties of BGNCE (in- vivo). Two trials were
carried out and each trial had 5 groups of rats (n=6). Diarrhoea was induced in rats
using castor-oil. Rats with diarrhoea received the following treatment for seven days:
the initial trial involved group 1 rats which received 2 mg loperamide (Lpr) per
KGBW; while the second trial comprised group 1 rats which received 100 mg vitamin
C per KGBW. In both trials, group 2 rats received 100 mg BGNCE per KGBW, group
3 rats received 250 mg BGNCE per KGBW, group 4 rats received 500 mg BGNCE
per KGBW and rats in group 5 received distilled water. Group 1 was the control-group
for each trial. After the trials, rats were bled into plain bottles, and serum was obtained
from whole blood. From the first trial, inflammatory-indicators like TNF-alpha, NFK
beta and LDH (Lactate dehydrogenase) were assessed from serum. The activity of
four anti-oxidants: superoxide-dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), reduced-glutathione
(GSH), and glutathione-peroxidase (GPx) were assessed in the liver and serum for the
second trial. The data was analysed using SPSS (version 20. BGNCE treatment
lowered the levels of TNF-alpha, NFK-beta, and LDH in the serum of diarrhoeal-rats
by 25.82–45.37%, 8.54–60.48%, and 8.63–21.06%, respectively. Also, treatment of
diarrhoeal-rats with BGNCE up-regulated the activities of the monitored antioxidants
in a dose dependent-manner. This work established that BGNCE plays its anti
diarrhoeal role through its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties.