Annual Research & Review in Biology

Honey is a rich material source of medicinal nutrients. This study investigated the hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects of honey, 50% fresh lime juice, and 50% honey (MIX) and ethylacetate flavonoid-rich fraction of honey (EAFH) in carbohydrate and lipid-enriched diets-obese rats.

At phase 1, 54 male neonate Wistar albino rats were, divided into 3 groups of 18 rats. Groups 2 and 3 were fed a carbohydrate-enriched diet (CHD) and lipid-enriched diet (LP) for 14 days, and rats with Lee index ≥ 0.3 were considered obese. Rats (phase-2) were regrouped into 7 groups of 6 rats, and treated with honey, MIX, and EAFH. Flavonoids bio-compounds in EAFH characterized by HPLC (High-performance liquid chromatography) include; gallic acid, epigallocatechin, napthoresorcinol, and quercetin. Lee's index after obesity induction was ≥ 0.3. Adiposity index, diet intake, and body and organ weight of obese rats were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced after honey, MIX, and EAFH treatments compared to control. Significant (p < 0.05) decreased concentrations of glucose, leptin, insulin, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TAG), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl (HMG) coenzyme A (CoA) reductase activity (HMGCOARA), atherogenic risk index (ARI) and coronary risk index (CRI) and increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) after treatment with honey, MIX and EAFH was observed compared control and AOI. Antioxidant parameters of obese rats were significantly (p < 0.05) improved compared to control and AOI rats.  Honey could serve as a model pharmacotherapy for treating dyslipidemia and oxidative stress linked to obesity.

Antimalarial resistance is a major challenge for effective control of malaria. This triggered the need to monitor the efficacy of Azadirachta indica and Ocimum gratissimum in the disease management. The present study compared antimalarial activities of the leaf extracts of the individual plants and evaluated their combined effects on malaria infected mice. The leaves of the different plants were extracted with absolute ethanol (BDL 95%) for the test. Clean albino mice were experimentally infected intraperitoneally with chloroquine-sensitive Plasmodium berghei Nk65 strain. Parasitaemia level was determined before parasite inoculation and at 24 hours post treatment period. Efficacy of the leaf extracts was tested on the infected mice using Peter’s 4-days suppressive and curative tests, and secondary biological assessment procedures.The lethal median dose (LD₅₀) recorded for neem and clove basil leaf extracts were 31.62 and 1246.9 mg/kg body weight, respectively. Infected mice treated with leaf extracts of the plants and their combinations produced significant dose- dependent activity against the parasite (P<0.05). Highest reduction of parasitaemia was observed on day 4. Maximum parasitaemia reduction (78.65%) was attained with 30mg/kg of the combination of the extracts on the 7^th day. These observations indicate better anti-malarial activity of the combination therapy as compared with the individual extracts of the plants, and also show their good antimalarial potentials.