Elizabeth Finbarrs-Bello^1,2*, Emmanuel Nebeuwa Obikili¹, Esom Emmanuel Anayochukwu¹, Anyanwu Emeka Godson¹

¹Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, UNEC, Enugu, Nigeria; ²Department of Anatomy, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki Ebonyi State, Nigeria

AIM: This study evaluated the curative potential of Crinum giganteum in the treatment of schizophrenia using an NMDA-receptor antagonist-induced schizophrenic Wistar rat model.

METHODS: Twenty-five adult Wistar rats of both sexes of average weights 180 g were divided into two groups: control and schizophrenic rat models. The controls received 0.1 ml of 0. 9% saline, while schizophrenia was induced in models using 25 mg/kg of ketamine hydrochloride (i.p.) for 7 days. On the 8 day models were divided into group’s k1, k2, k3 and k4 of 5 rats each. K1 and the controls were sacrificed then, groups k2 and k3 were treated with 5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg aqueous leaf extract of Crinum giganteum while, k4 (standard) received 25 mg/kg of chlorpromazine orally for 28 days. Amygdala were harvested, processed and stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin (H &E) stain, Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) marker was also used to monitor the curative effect on the amygdala.

RESULTS: Degenerative changes and increased NSE immunoreactivity were observed in the untreated models. Extract-treated models showed normal amygdala and negative NSE immunoreactivity while chlorpromazine treated models revealed decreased NSE immunoreactivity.

CONCLUSION: Crinum giganteum extracts exhibits better curative effect than the standard antipsychotic agent.
 

Citation: Finbarrs-Bello E, Obikili EN, Anayochukwu EE, Godson AE. Curative Effect of Aqueous Leaf Extract of Crinum Giganteum on NMDA-Receptor Antagonist-Induced Schizophrenic Wistar Rat Model. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. http://dx.doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2016.061
Keywords: Amygdala; Crinum giganteum; Amy Chlorpromazine; Schizophrenia; NMDA; NSE.
*Correspondence: Finbarrs-Bello, E. Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, UNEC, Enugu, Nigeria. Tel: +2348064113179. E-mail: finbello@yahoo.com
Received: 16-Mar-2016; Revised: 10-May-2016; Accepted: 11-Apr-2016; Online first: 06-Aug-2016
Copyright: © 2016 Elizabeth Finbarrs-Bello, Emmanuel Nebeuwa Obikili, Esom Emmanuel Anayochukwu, Anyanwu Emeka Godson. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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