Hormonal, Biochemical and Haematological Changes in Adult Albino Rats Treated with Daucus Carota Root Tuber Extract

The effects of Daucus carota tuber extract (DCTE) on the hormonal (testosterone and estrogen), biochemical, and hematological profile of adult male and female rats were investigated. Extract prepared from the carrots were subjected to an acute toxicity test. Two separate experiments were conducted, one for male rats and the other for females. In each experiment, 15 rats were divided into 3 groups of 5 rats each and were assigned, treatment groups. Group 1 was untreated and served as the control while groups 2 and 3 were treated with 500 and 1000 mg/kg body weight of DCTE. All treatments were through the oral routs and lasted for 28 days. At the end of the experimentation, the rats were sacrificed using mild ether soaked in cotton wool for sedation and cervical dislocation. Blood was collected through cardiac puncture for both hematology and serology. Results obtained showed an acute toxicity value greater than 5000 mg/kg body weight.  Testosterone and estrogen concentrations were significantly higher in the DCTE treated male and female rats respectively when compared to control. Results of biochemical tests including total protein, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin, urea, creatinine, and triglycerides (TAG) showed no significant difference between DCTE treated rats and the control (p>0.05) but total cholesterol concentration was significantly reduced while high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) concentration increased following treatment (p<0.05). But, hematological evaluation of the treated rats did not significantly differ from control (p>0.05) except for red blood cells (RBCs) count and hematocrit values which were significantly improved (p<0.05) in both male and female albino rats.