Body and organ weight changes in male Wistar rats treated with saponins extract of <i>Vernonia amygdalina</i> and <i>Vernonia colorata</i>

Vernonia amygdalina (VA) and Vernonia colorata (VC) have been reported to have anti-obesity activities attributable to phytochemicals such as saponins. We studied the effect of crude saponin-rich extracts of VA (VACS) and VC (VCCS) on body weight and relative organ weight (ROW) in male Wistar rats fed high-fat diet (HFD). 40 rats were randomly allocated to 8 groups of 5, with average weights of 183g. Group 1; Basal control Diet (BCD), Group 2; HFD only, Group 3 and 4; HFD + 100 mg/kg VACS and HFD + 200 mg/kg VACS respectively, Group 5 and 6; HFD + 100 mg/kg VCCS and HFD + 200 mg/kg VCCS respectively. Group 7; HFD + Orlistat 10mg/kg, Group 8; HFD + Orlistat 10mg/kg + dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). All treatments were administered orally for 10 weeks. The HFD-only group had the highest increase in weight. Administration of VCCS and VACS resulted in weight loss relative to the HFD group only. The effect was not dose-dependent but compared favourably with Orlistat (10 mg/kg). 100 mg/kg VACS produced the highest weight reduction of all the saponins -rich extracts treated groups. There was no difference between the ROW of the treatment groups and the BCD group suggesting there was no organ toxicity. crude saponins. Our findings suggest that saponins-rich fractions from VA and VC may be useful in weight management.