NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION OF CARICA PAPAYA LEAVES AND ANTITHROMBOCYTOPENIC EFFECT OF ITS LEAVES EXTRACTS.
Keywords:
Carica papaya, Thrombocytopenia, platelet count, Nutritional value, Extract, Carica papaya, Thrombocytopenia, platelet count, Nutrional value, ExtractAbstract
Carica papaya leaves were collected and screened for the presence of nutritional and antinutritional components. The leave extract revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids tannins and phenols. Nutritional analysis of the leave showed high amount of moisture and carbohydrate contents in the range of 59.80 ± 0.20% and 28.69 ± 0.016% respectively. The % composition of protein, and fat of the leave were 4.90 ± 0.30% and 1.5 ± 0.04% respectively. Quantitative anti-nutritional analysis revealed 8.98 ± 0.06mg/100g of saponin, 3.58 ± 0.03 mg/100g of oxalate and 0.68 ± 0.10 mg/100g of phytic acid. To ascertain the extract antithrombocytopenic properties, albino rats were used as experimental animals to study how aspirin induced thrombocytopenia can be cured using the leaves extract. It was found that the leave extract at 25%, 50% and 75% concentrations are all able to cure the aspirin induced thrombocytopenia by increasing the platelet counts from <150*109/L to a range of 180
– 350 *109/L.
