TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF 'AKUSKURA', A HERBAL MIXTURE WIDELY ABUSED BY YOUTHS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

The use of ‘Akuskura’ mouth gaggle mixture has recently become popular in northern Nigeria. Despite claims of its medicinal application for piles, fever, headache, malaise etc, it’s widely believed to be abused due to its psychoactive property. This study, in view of its wide patronage, aimed to investigate the toxic effects of ‘Akuskura’ mouth gaggle mixture in albino rats. Following the OECD guidelines, acute (48 hours) and sub-acute (28-days) oral toxicity was investigated. Using 0.1ml, 0.2ml and 0.3ml/mgKg-1BW doses of its most popular brand (Zazzau brand), biochemical and hematological parameters of rats were bioassayed. The histological investigation of harvested body organs (brain, liver, and kidney) of rats was then conducted. The study results revealed a 0.86 ml/kg dose as the LD50 of ‘Akuskura’ mouth gaggle mixture. Hematological assay revealed lower hemoglobin (HGB) levels in all treatment groups compared with the control (p<0.05). The levels of platelets (PLT), lymphocytes (LYMP#), and neutrophils (NEUT#) in all treatment groups were significantly higher than those in the control (p<0.05) while levels of mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mixed white blood cells (MXD %) were significantly higher in only the 0.3 ml/kg treatment group (p<0.05). Similarly, blood urea and creatinine levels were significantly higher in rats treated with 0.3ml/kg dose of ‘Akuskura’ mouth gaggle mixture than in the control (p<0.05). These results revealed that ‘Akuskura’ mouth gaggle mixture is very likely to cause fatal acute poisoning and death. Sub-acute toxicity study results showed that the mixture is capable of causing anemia, compromised immune state, and renal injury. Higher doses of the mixture are relatively more toxic as they are more likely to cause toxic effects