Effect of combination therapy of haart and α-zam herbal preparation for HIV infection in rats

Abstract

It is not uncommon seeing patients taking orthodox and herbal remedies concurrently for the same 
disease. The concern of many health practitioners is the safety of such combination therapy especially 
when there is a possibility of adverse drug reaction as a result of drug-drug interaction. This study 
focussed on drug interactions of α-zam  (herbal antiretroviral drug) when combined with lamivudine, 
zidovudine and nevirapine (highly active anti-retroviral therapy) using an animal model. Wistar rats 
were divided into 5 groups (10 rats per group) and were administered with 400 mg/kg ( α-zam ), 800 
mg/kg ( α-zam ), 400 mg/kg ( α-zam ) +HAART, 800 mg/kg ( α-zam ) +HAART and normal saline. All 
administration was done once daily orally via canula to the 4 different groups respectively with the 5th 
group as control for 6 days. All wistar rats in all groups were observed daily for change in behaviour. 
On the 7th day, all rats were bled via retro-orbital plexus under light diethyl ether anaesthesia. The 
blood samples were analysed for haematological (haemoglobin concentration, white blood cell, red 
blood cell, platelet and lymphocyte counts) and biochemical (electrolytes, urea, creatinine, lipid profile, 
liver and renal functions tests) parameters. Some organs were also harvested for histological 
examinations. There was neither mortality nor behavioural abnormality observed in all the drug 
administered rats. There were some mild atrophic changes in liver and kidney with hyper-cellularity of 
bone marrow but no statistically significant difference (P>0.05) were found in all blood (haematological 
and biochemical) parameters in rat groups administered combination therapy (herbal concoction+ 
HAART). It was concluded that the combined administration of α-zam  and HAART (lamivudine, 
zidovudine and nevirapine) did not cause any significant adverse drug reaction. Rather beneficial 
effects were observed in amelioration of side-effects associated with the herbal concoction and 
orthodox anti-viral medicines.