Chapter IV

DISCUSSIONS

This chapter contains the discussion and analysis of the findings of laboratory tests that
established the hematologic and hemostatic effects of the bamboo leaf extract.
Hemostatic effect
Usually, it takes 5-10 minutes for in vitro coagulation of blood. However, samples
constantly observed could exceed 10 minutes and even reach up to 16 minutes, without
indication of pathologic condition. (Garzon, 2014) Phase I of the experiment screened for the
anticoagulant property of the bamboo leaf extract and follows the requirement of 2 hours
screening test for performing coagulation studies (steininger et. al., 1992) in this study, the
researchers observed that there is a direct relationship between the concentration and ratio to the
delay of coagulation. Though, none of the preparations passed the screening test for coagulation
in phase I with the longest delay of 1 hour 5 minutes and 21 seconds in the 14.77% with 1:3
anticoagulant to blood ratio, there is still an observable trend in the delay of coagulation time that
as the concentration and ratio gets higher, the longer the delay is. This resulted to experimental
testing of higher bamboo extract concentration at 35 and 50 %. However, even after more than
doubling and tripling the concentration of the preparation with the longest delay of coagulation,

it was observed that at 1:3 ratio, the preparations still did not reach the 2 hour mark, only
delaying for 1h2031 and 1h2843 respectively.
Morphologic effects of bamboo leaf extract
Morphologic evaluation in a well-made blood film can provide a good picture for the red
blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. (Rodak, et al., 2012). In the protocol made by the
researchers, morphology was supposed to be done in phase III, however, since none of the
preparation was able to pass the screening test for phase I, the researchers decided to at least
evaluate the hematologic effect of bamboo leaf extract using the preparations with the longest
delay in coagulation, all that reached more than 60 minutes before coagulating.
In the preparation of the blood film, it was apparent that the films stained darker
compared to the positive control EDTA. Upon the microscopic examination, it was observed that
all of the prepared smears were identical in that none of them presented any normal cell
morphology. The first striking observable hematologic effect was that the white blood cells and
platelets were no longer identifiable. Red blood cells on the other hand showed significant
changes, lysis being the most common picture. This may be due to the osmolality of the bamboo
leaf extract which was not controlled, and in turn caused lysis. Another factor to look at, is the
incomplete removal of Saponins which are known cytotoxic (Rao A.V., Gurfinkel D.M. 2001).
Although a phytochemical study on bambusa vulgaris (Coffie, Antwi-Boasiako, & Darkwa,
2014) shows that dry method of ethanolic extract devoid a large proportion of saponin, there
could still be residues that could have caused the cells to crenate and lyse.