Tetrapleura tetraptera has wide use in South East and Western part of Nigeria as a spice as well as plant to treat various medical ailments. This study was designed to investigate the effect of Tetrapleura-tetraptera dry fruit on the plasma lipid profile and enzyme activities in some tissues of hypercholesterolemic rats. Sixteen healthy white albino rats were divided into four groups A – D. Rats in group A served as the control and received cholesterol-free diet. Group B served as the hyper control and received 1% cholesterol in their diet. The group C and D which are the treated groups received 25g/kg and 50g/kg of the fruit of Tetrapleura tetraptera supplement in their diets respectively together with the 10g/kg cholesterol as with the group B. After feeding for a period of four weeks, the blood samples were collected via cardiac puncture and the organs were removed and assayed for enzyme activities and blood sample was also assayed for enzyme activities and the lipid profile. The result showed significantly higher levels of plasma total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol triglycerides and the LDL/HDL ratio in the hyper control rats than the normal control (P<0.05) while feeding with 25g/kg and 50g/kg of the dry fruit supplement caused a decrease in the levels of total cholesterol, low density lipoproteins, triglycerides and LDL/HDL ratio with increase level of HDL when compared to the hyper control group (P<0.05). Feeding at 25 and 50g/kg caused a significant reduction in the creatinine and urea levels and also a reduction in the kidney enzyme activities when compared to the hyper control (P<0.05). However at 50g/kg, the AST and ALP levels were significantly increased in the liver and the heart. It appears that increased concentration of Tetrapleura tetraptera in the diet could cause damage to some of these organs. It can be concluded that even though the fruit of Tetrapleura tetraptera appears to have hypocholesterolemic effect on rats, feeding with excessive amount could be harmful to health.
