Ogundeyi S.B.¹ , Ileke K.D.² , Bankole S.O.³

1. Department of Biological Sciences, Achievers University, P.M.B 2240, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria
2. Department of Environmental Biology and Fisheries, Faculty of Science, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba -Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria
3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Molecular Medical Science, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 2   doi: 10.5376/ijmms.2015.05.0002
Received: 09 Mar., 2015    Accepted: 18 May, 2015    Published: 10 Jun., 2015

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Ogundeyi et al., 2015, Effect of Polistes fuscatus (Hymenoptera: wasp) Venom Extract on Phenobarbitone Sleeping Time in Albino Rats (Rattus norvegicus), International Journal of Molecular Medical Science, Vol.5, No.2, 1-3 (doi: 10.5376/ijmms.2015.05.0002)

Wasp of the cosmopolitan genus Polistes are the familiar of the Polistine wasps. The sting and venom have been evolved to be effective weapons against predators. The biological activities of the wasp venom have been classified as neurotoxin, haemolytic, and algogenic. This study monitors the effect of the wasp venom to potentiate the sleeping time in albino rats. Thirty (30) male albino rats with body weight of 120-170 g were used. The rats were divided into three groups (treatment, reference, and control), the treatment was further divided into three groups based on the dosage into mild, moderate and high dose, each group has six replicate. The treatment rats received 50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg of the venom extract and were later given 40mg/kg phenobarbitone injection, thirty minutes after the administration of the venom extract, the reference group received 40mg/kg phenobarbitone injection and the control rats received 40 mg/kg of the extract. The result shows that increase in dosage is directly proportional to the sleeping response of the rats in the treatment group. The dosage (50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg) induced a mean sleeping time of 306.16 minutes, 323.20 minutes and 373.17 minutes respectively. A significant increase (p<0.05) in sleeping time was recorded in the rats that received high dose of the venom extract compared to other groups. The control rats recorded a mean sleeping time of 210 minutes, while the reference group recorded a mean sleeping time of 325 minutes. The sedative ability of the wasp venom has been demonstrated with this study, with sedation beginning within 20-30 minutes and reaching the peak at hours (post inoculation).

Wasp; Venom; Albino rats; Phenobarbitone