Qualitative phytochemical screening and antipyretic activity of methanolic stem bark extract of Mangifera indica in wistar rats

Mangifera indica stem bark is traditionally used in management of fever especially in meru community of Kenya though its antipyretic activity is not yet evaluated. The present study aim was to evaluate the phytochemical constituents and antipyretic activity of the methanolic extract of Mangifera indica. The standard methods were used to qualitatively analyze the phytochemicals revealing the presence of carbohydrates, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, quinones, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, phenols, coumarins, steroids and acids. Fever was induced by injecting distilled turpentine in the left dorsal hind paw of the rats. The test groups were treated by administering Mangifera indica extract in three dose levels of 50, 100 and 150mg/kg body weight. The rectal temperature was taken at an interval of one hour after treatment with plant extracts and the data obtained was analyzed using ANOVA to give the descriptive statistics and summarized data in terms of means ±SEM. This was followed by Tukey’s post hoc test for comparing the means separation. The data analysis was set at 95% confidence level with statistical significance of P ≤ 0.05. The data was analyzed and results presented in graphs and tables. The percentage change in rectal temperature of the 50, 100 and 150mg/kg body weight dose levels at 4th hours after administration of the plant extract were 3.13, 3.93 and 4.10% respectively. The result obtained from this research suggest that the methanolic stem bark extract of Mangifera indica could be used in management of fever associated with various diseases.