Histological changes in selected tissues of male rats following administration of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of phyllanthus amarus
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Date
2015
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Nigerian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Abstract
The effects of oral administration of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Phyllanthus amarus on the histology of brain, heart, liver, kidney and testes of male Wistar rats were studied. Thirty five rats (212.23 ± 16.14 g) were randomly assigned into seven groups designated A, B, C, D, E, F and G and were orally administered distilled water (control), 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight (bw) of aqueous extract and 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg bw of ethanolic extract of whole P. amarus, once a day, for 15 days. The animals were anesthetized and sacrificed after which sections (1 cm thick) of each tissue was cut and processed for histological analysis using haematoxylin and eosin stains. The photomicrographs were observed under light microscope at x100 magnification. The histological examination of the tissues revealed dose-dependent mild to moderate glomerular inflammation in the kidney, stressed cardiac tissues in the heart, reduced germ cells in the testes and cytoplasmic degeneration in the liver of rats administered 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg bw of aqueous extract of P. amarus. In contrast, there was no evidence of histoarchitectural changes in the rats that were administered the ethanolic extracts of P. amarus except the 400 mg/kg bw that produced polymorph infiltrations in the hepatocytes, inflammation in the cardiac cells and testicular histoarchitecture when compared with those of the control rats. The brain histoarchitecture were preserved after the administration of the solvent extracts of P. amarus. The study revealed that administration of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg bw of aqueous extract and 400 mg/kg bw of the ethanolic extracts of P. amarus on daily basis for 15 days exhibited structural toxicity on the selected organs of male rats. These histoarchitectural changes may lead to compromise of the normal functioning of the organs of male rats.
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Keywords
Phyllanthus amarus, phyllanthaceae, structural toxicity, histoarchitecture, germ cells, degeneration, inflammation