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The endemic nature of malaria and the prevalence of the viral infections of HIV and HBV in Africa necessitate concurrent lamivudine and artesunate therapy, and these drugs are amongst first line agents in management of these diseases. This study investigated the safety of lamivudine-artesunate co-administration in a rodent model of Plasmodium berghei infection in cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression. Thirty Wistar rats divided into five groups were used for the study with intraperitoneal drug administration for 21 days. Group 1 served as healthy controls while group 2 was disease control (Plasmodium berghei and cylcophosphamide inmmunosuppression). Group 3 and 4 received lamivudine 20mgkg-1, with group 4 receiving artesunate 10mg kg-1 in addition. Group 5 received only artesunate. All drugs were administered intraperitoneally and artesunate was from day 15 while groups 2-5 were also diseased. Electrolytes and urea levels did not differ significantly between treated and disease controls. Relative kidney weights were within close range of each other in all groups including the vehicle group. While lymphocytes were significantly lower in the lamivudine group, PCV levels were significantly decreased with artesunate in the disease group. Histological observations however did not show much difference and correlated the electrolytes and urea data from serum analysis. Data from this study suggests that concurrent administration of lamivudine and artesunate in the diseased state of malaria in immunosuppression may not pose severe renal consequences if administration is not intravascular in nature. Further safety studies with longer co administration of lamivudine and artesunate is recommended.Keywords: Drug safety, drug interaction, antimalarial-antiviral interaction, lamivudine, artesunate

Drug administration practice of mothers from 20 facilities (12 primary and 8 secondary) in northwestern Nigeria were assessed prospectively with the aim of identifying the type, frequency and potential clinical significance of drug administration errors in paediatric outpatients. The data was analyzed and errors classified according to National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention taxonomy. Educational interventions were designed and administered to mothers of 10 (6 primary and 4 secondary) least performing facilities, while the remaining 10 facilities acted as control. The percentage of the parents that claimed to knew the correct dosage were relatively high (78% to 93%) and differ significantly between the secondary and primary facilities. Further assessment shows that the dose of the drugs dispensed, the time/frequency of administration, and the duration of use were not known by 68.2% (330/484), 63.0% (305/484), and 12.0% (58/484) of the mothers respectively. The overall total possibility of the drug administration errors significantly reduced in the right direction (p

The toxicity profile of 70% methanolic extract of Sorghum bicolor leaf base widely used in ethnomedicine was evaluated in male rats treated daily for 28 days using 100 – 400 mg/kg p. o. doses. No adverse clinical signs were observed. There was no significant change in the feed intake, body weight and relative organ weight except the significant (P < 0.05) reduction in weight of kidneys and increase in relative weight of the testes observed at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg respectively. No gross or histopathological changes were seen in the kidneys, heart, spleen, lungs, liver and testes. No significant effect was observed in the haematological indices (packed cell volume, heamoglobin, totaland differential white blood cells), hepatic function indices (glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, glutamate pyruvate transaminase, direct bilirubin, total bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, albumin, totalprotein) as well as renal function indices (urea and creatinine). Uric acid was however reduced significantly (P < 0.05). Study of effect on serum lipid profile showed no significant effect on cholesterol but a significant reduction of triglyceride at 200 mg/kg p. o. dose. The results suggest that S. bicolor leaf extract is relatively safe.

The analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of aqueous leaf extract of S. nigrum was investigated in rats. Thermally-induced pain and pressure-induced pain were used to assess the analgesic activity of the extract while egg albumin-induced oedema was used for anti-inflammatory activity. The aqueous leaf extract of S. nigrum at doses of 30 mg/kg and 60 mg/kg, ip exhibited a significant (P

The acute and sub-chronic toxicity studies of the methanolic extract of the leaves of Momordica charantia were carried out in rats using the oral route. Acute toxicity study was conducted orally in two phases according to the method of Lorke (1983). Animals were observed for signs of toxicity and mortality. The sub-chronic toxicity studies were carried out at three dose levels of 1250, 2500 and 5000 mg/kg for twelve weeks. A fourth group served as the control and received normal saline. At the end of every four weeks, blood samples were collected from five rats per group by cardiac puncture for analysis of hematological and serum liver enzymes parameters. Another five rats per group were euthanized and necropsied for gross pathological lesions and body organs including the liver, heart, kidney, spleen, stomach and intestines were removed and fixed in formalin saline for histopathological examinations. The extract was not lethal to the rats dosed at 5000 mg/kg body weight. Significant (P0.05) on PCV, TP and Hb concentration levels were observed. The liver, kidney, spleen, stomach and intestines showed mild to moderate congestion. These results suggest that the leaves of M. charantia though safe, should be used with caution in the treatment of diseases that require long term therapy.Keywords: Momordica charantia, sub-chronic, toxicity, liver enzymes, haematology, histopathologyRésumé L\'étude de la toxicitée aigue et sub-chronique de l\'extrait methanolique des feuilles du Momordica charantia ont été entreprisent sur des souris utilisant la voix oral.l\'étude de la toxicitée aigue ont été conduite orallement en deux phases suivant la methode de lorke.(1983) les animaux étaient observé pour des signes de toxicitée et de mortalité. L\'étude de toxicité sub-chronique ont été conduite avec trios dose 1250, 2500 et 5000mg/kg pendant douze semaines Un quatrième groupe servant de contrôle et reçu une solution salée isotonique. A la fin de chaque quatre semaines les échantillons de sang étaient collecte sur 5 souris par groupe et ce par punction cardiaque pour analyse hemathologique et du serum pour les parametre des enzymes du foie. Cinq autre souris euthanasiées et nécropsies pour les lesion macro pathologique. Et les organes incluant le foie , le Coeur, la rate, les reins l\'estomach et les intest ont été prelevé et fixé à la formaline saline pour étude histopathologique. les extraits n\'etait pas lethal pour les souris à la dose de 5000mg /kg du poids corporel . l\'elevation significative(P,0.05)du niveau des enzymes du foie ce de même pour des globule rouges et blancs comptée ont été observés aucun effet significatif (P>0.05) sur l\'hematocrite, TP et le taux d\'Hb était observée. Le foie ,reins ,rate, stomach, intestine ont montré une congestion d\'ifinie à moderé. Les resultats sugèrnt que les feuilles de Momordica charantia certe sauve doive être utilise avec precaution dans le traitement des maladies qui demande une therapy à long terme.Mots clés: Momordica charantia, sub-chronique, toxicité, foie, enzymes du foie, hemathologie, histopathologieWest African Journal of Pharmacology and Drug Research Vol. 20(1&2) 2005: 15-21