Some of the Effects of Aqueous Leaf Extract of Cnidoscolous aconitifolius (Euphorbiaceae) on the Morphology and Histology of the Kidney and Liver of Sprague Dawley Rat.

Abstract

Cnidoscolus aconitifolius belongs to a group of arbrescent shrubs. It has continued to be used as food, medicine and ornamental plant till date.Awide variety of claims have been made for its medicinal efficacy as a treatment for numerous ailments ranging from its ability to strengthen fingernails and darken gray hair to curing alcoholism, insomnia, gout, and scorpion stings. This study was to elucidate the effect of aqueous leaf extract of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius commonly used as food supplement on the kidney and liver of Sprague Dawley rats. Thirty-two Sprague Dawley rats of both sexes (with an average weight of 235g) were randomly assigned into one control group (n=8) designated as A, while the extract treated groups consists of 3 subgroups and were designated as B, C, and D. the animals in the extract treated groups B, C and D were administered 600mg/kg, 400mg/kg and 200mg/kg bwt of the extract respectively, while the control group received equal volume of phosphate buffered saline (PBS). The administration was done orally using an orogastric tube for seven days (7d). Twenty-four hours after the last administration, all the animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation. Laparatomy was performed and the liver and kidney excised, trimmed free of fat, rinsed in cold phosphate buffered saline solution. The liver was quickly fixed in 10% formolsaline, while the kidney was fixed in Bouin's fluid for histological processing. The histological findings after Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining showed that the extract treated sections the Kidney and Liver has no compromising effect on the cellular integrity of the studied organs. There were no degenerative changes and no intercellular vacuolations in the renal cortex and liver parenchyma. These findings indicate that the administration of aqueous leaf extract of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius has no adverse effects on hepatic and renal morphology of the treated Sprague Dawley rats. It is therefore recommended that further studies at corroborating these observations be carried out.