Olorunfemi oluwadare Joyce

In an effort to scientifically appraise the mechanism of action of Psdium guajava stem bark and leaves, the present study was carried out to investigate the cell membrane stabilizing anti-inflammatory activities of methanol extracts of psidum guajava on experimental animal model at three different dose levels – 5mg/kg, 10mg/kg and 15mg/kg. Aspirin (10mg/kg) was used as standard reference cell membrane stabilizing agent for comparison. This research work was carried out using Wistar strain albino rats weighing 150g-175g. The extractive inhibited heat- induced haemolysis of erythrocytes in vitro. The methanol extract of Psidum guajava stem- bark demonstrated 89.23%, 93.94% and 103.66% inhibition while the leave extract demonstrated 51.40%, 51.43%, 61.40% and 44.29% of hemolysis of RBC caused by heat, in a dose- dependent manner – 5mg/kg, 10mg/kg and 15mg/kg respectively. Results were considered significant at p ≤0.05.

In spite of wide spread biological uses of Psidium guajava, there is a dearth of information on its hepatoprotective activity especially during inflammation. This work was therefore conducted to evaluate the effects of methanolic stem bark and leave extracts of the plant on acute-phase proteins during acute-phase response in rats. Forty albino Wistar rats (twenty in each group) were divided into two groups (stem bark and leave extracts). Inflammation was induced using egg albumin while treatment with the extracts commenced as soon as the inflammation was established and this lasted for 90 minutes. Initial, inflammation and recovery phase blood samples were obtained for analysis of acute-phase proteins (Albumin & C-reactive protein) using standard methods. Even though the stem bark extract showed more potent effects on both parameters in either dose-dependent and time-dependent fashions, both were perpetuating their anti-inflammatory potency through significant reduction on C-RP and increment on Albumin levels purporting a possible mechanism of action for anti-inflammatory activity of Psidium guajava. Results were considered significant at P≤0.05.