Original Articles: 2015 Vol: 7 Issue: 8
Comparative anti anemic activity of Azadirachta indica leaves and its combination with Emblica officinalis in phenyl hydrazine induced anemia using rats
Abstract
Azadirachta indica (neem leaves) and its combination with Emblica officinalis (amla) were evaluated for their antianemic activity in phenyl hydrazine induced anaemic animals. Rats were divided into 7 groups of 6 each. Group 1 was given normal saline and served as control and all other groups were given 60 mg/kg b.w of phenyl hydrazine for 2 days to induce anemia. Group 2 served as positive control (only treated with phenyl hydrazine) and Group 3 was treated with standard ferrous sulfate containing drug Fefol®(0.012mg/kg,p.o.) and served as standard .Group 4 and 5 were treated with different doses (200 and 400 mg/kg b.w.) of aqueous extracts of Azadirachta indica leaves respectively. Whereas Group 6 and 7 were treated with combination of aqueous extract of Azadirachta indica leaves and Emblica officinalis fruit (200 and 400 mg/kg b.w.) respectively. All the treatments were given orally and continued up to 14 days. On 15th day blood samples were collected by retroorbital puncture and hematological parameters such as haemoglobin (Hb) concentration, RBC count and WBC count were estimated. Results showed that both Azadirachta indica leaves and its combination with Emblica officinalis fruit showed significant anti anemic activity but compared to Azadirachta indica leaf extract alone, its combination with amla showed better activity. This synergistic action of plants may be due to increase in absorption of iron from neem leaves due to vitamin C in amla fruit and this combination may be an alternative to synthetic iron therapy in anemia.