Evaluation and Comparison of the Effects of Low and High Doses of Herbal Medicinal Plant Emblic Myrobalan (AMLA) on Red Cell Parameters of Normal Healthy Rabbits

Objective: To study and compare the effects of low and high doses of Emblic myrobalan (Amla) on the red blood cells hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV) red cell count (RCC), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration (MCHC) of rabbits. Study Design: Laboratory based experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pharmacology, and Animal House of Baqai Medical University Karachi Pakistan, from Jul to Aug 2016. Methodology: Twenty-seven male rabbits of 1-2kg body weight were taken and equally divided into 3 groups (group A, B and C). Group A served as control group; group B (Low dose group) was administered Amla at 2g/kg body weight while group C (High dose group) was administered Amla at 4g/kg body weight. Amla was mixed with water and administered orally with syringe for 60 days. Blood samples were drawn via cardiac puncture on day 61 for red cell parameters and reports were analyzed using Statistically Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Results: Administration of low dose Amla resulted in significant increase in Hb (0.001) and PCV (0.001) compared to normal while high dose Amla produced significant increase in Hb (0.001), PCV (0.001), MCV (0.043), MCH (0.027) and RCC (0.001). Administration of high dose Amla showed significant improvement in red cell parameters compared to low dose Amla. Conclusions: Amla may be used to improve the red cell hemoglobin in patients of iron deficiency anemia