Effects of honey-supplemented diet on the parasitemia and some enzymes of Trypanosoma brucei-infected rats

Trypanosoma brucei-infected rats were treated with natural honey and honey-supplemented diet at three days before infection (prophylaxis), early and late stages of infection. Proximate percentage composition of the honey was 71.19 plus or minus 0.90% carbohydrate, 3.28 plus or minus 0.05% protein an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:African journal of biotechnology 2006-09, Vol.5 (17), p.1557-1561
Main Authors: Ekanem, J T, Majolagbe, O R, Sulaiman, F A, Muhammad, N O
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Trypanosoma
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Summary:Trypanosoma brucei-infected rats were treated with natural honey and honey-supplemented diet at three days before infection (prophylaxis), early and late stages of infection. Proximate percentage composition of the honey was 71.19 plus or minus 0.90% carbohydrate, 3.28 plus or minus 0.05% protein and 10.68 plus or minus 0.27% lipid among others. Prophylactic treatment with natural honey extended the lifespan of infected rats by 13 extra days from a control of 12 days post infection while early and late stage treatments extended the lifespan by 10 and 5 days, respectively. Prophylactic feeding with honey-supplemented diet extended the lifespan by 6 extra days while early and late stage feeding extended it for 5 and 3 days, respectively. A specific pattern could not be established for alkaline phosphatase (ALP), glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) and glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) enzyme activities in the liver and serum. We conclude that honey even as part of a regular diet could be a useful, cheap and readily presentable agent in the management of African sleeping sickness for residents of disease endemic areas.
ISSN:1684-5315
1684-5315