Abstract

Laboratory anticoagulants have certain drawbacks. For example, heparin has no preservative property on whole blood because its anticoagulant properties are neutralized by plasma while ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) is toxic and damages platelets. The search for novel anticoagulants therefore became necessary. The effect of the extract of Euphorbia heterophylla and tripotassium ethylene diamine tetracetic acid (K₃EDTA) on haemoglobin, platelets, red blood cells, white cell count and differentials were compared. 5 g of aqueous leaf extracts of E. heterophylla was prepared using Soxhlet extracting machine. Serial dilutions of the extract were made using distilled water. 0.5 ml of each dilution was mixed with 2 ml of whole human blood and stored for 5 days at 4°C. For control, this storage was repeated with EDTA and analyzed for HB, PLT, RBC, WBC, NEUT and lymph using Haematology autoanalyser (Erma Inc, PCE – 210). At p < 0.05 using students t-test, there was no statistically significant difference on HB, PLT, RBC, WBC, NEUT and lymph counts (p values = 0.13, 0.74, 0.058, 0.31, 0.086, 0.096, respectively). It was concluded that the aqueous leaf extract of E. heterophylla and K₃EDTA have comparable effect on HB, PLT, RBC, WBC, NEUT and lymph counts when used as storage anticoagulants.

Key words: Tripotassium ethylene diamine tetracetic acid (K₃EDTA), Euphorbia heterophylla, anticoagulants, storage, WBC, platelets, RBC.