Anti-inflammatory, viral replication suppression and hepatoprotective activities of bitter kola - Lime juice, - Honey mixture in HBeAg seropositive patients.

Study Background: Bitter kola (Garcinia kola), lime juice, and honey mixture have some traditional but nonscientific applications in the treatment of some infectious diseases due to the phytochemical and phytonutrient components that may have antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, immunomodulatory, antiatherogenic, antimicrobial, purgative and antiparasitic activities while expression of hepatitis B envelope antigen (HBeAg) is an indication of active hepatitis B virus replication and a high degree of infectiousness. Aim and Objective: This work was therefore designed to determine anti-inflammatory response, possible suppression of active viral replication and liver damage in HBeAg seropositive patients who used bitter kola, lime juice and honey mixture. Materials and Methods: Out of 39 hepatitis B surface antigen and HBeAg seropositive patients who volunteered themselves for the study only 23 volunteers (23; Male: 13; Female: 10; age 34–56 years) were successfully monitored. The mixture is prepared by mixing grounded bitter kola (30 seeds) with 500 ml of Lime Juice and 500 ml of honey. The mixture was kept for 5 days before administration. The mixture was taken by subjects at 4 divided dose for 2 months using 4 teaspoonfuls per dose. Plasma alanine transaminase (ALT) was measured using COBAS C111 autoanalyzer, plasma interleukin-10 (IL-10), Antibodies against hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV), HBeAg, anti-HBeAg, p24 ag-ab by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay while acid-fast bacilli and Plasmodium were determined in the subjects by microscopic examination of stained smears. Results: The frequency of HBeAg (26.1% [6]) in the patients after the use of bitter kola, lime juice, and honey mixture was lower than the frequency of the viral protein (HBeAg 100% [23]) before the use of the mixture. None of the HBeAg seropositive patients studied expressed anti-HBeAg before the use of bitter kola, lime juice, and honey mixture but 56.5% (13) of the patients expressed anti-HBeAg while 17.4% (4) co-expressed HBeAg + anti-HBeAg after the use of the mixture. There was a significant increase in the plasma value of IL-10 and a significant decrease in the plasma value of ALT in the HBeAg seropositive patients after the use of bitter kola, lime juice, and honey mixture (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Bitter kola, lime juice, and honey mixture could have anti-inflammatory, active viral replication, and liver damage suppression bioactivities in HBeAg seropositive patients as indicated by decrease in HBeAg, expression of anti-HBeAg, decrease in plasma ALT and increase in IL-10 after the use of the mixture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]