Abstract
Medicinal herbs are commonly used by people in Jordan. In the current study, we attempt to see whether the oral administration of aqueous extracts and paracetamol on human volunteers for 5 days affect the results of clinical chemistry tests of serum. A total of 54 healthy volunteers were divided into six groups of nine, with the first five groups drinking 200-250 ml of aqueous extract from selected medicinal plants for five days and the sixth group taking two 500 mg paracetamol tablets for five days. Blood samples were obtained before to set as the control group without any treatment and one hour after the first dose of administration in day 1, as well as one day after the fifth dose in day 5. The serum was subjected to 13 conventional clinical chemistry assays. Oral administration of aqueous extracts of R. officinalis, V.triphylla, Z.officinale, S.triloba and O.syriacum for 5 days cause a significant increase or decrease of some clinical chemistry tests (BUN, CREA and LDH; clinical parameters were decreased) compared to 0 time of administration. The potential risks of O. syriacum, increased ALP, S. triloba increased K and V. triphylla increased uric acid. Although, some clinical chemical tests were affected by these aqueous extracts, but these effects did not exceed the known normal ranges of these parameters, therefore it is concluded that the oral administration of aqueous extracts of tested herbs could significantly alter some laboratory results without exceed the normal range of results.