Histological Studies Of The Effects Of Oral Administration Of Damiana (Turnera Diffusa) On The Liver Of Mature Wistar Rats

Histological studies of the effect of oral administration of Damiana extract on the liver of mature wistar rats was carried out at the Department of Anatomy, University of Ilorin, Kwara State between December 2002 and July 2003. This study involved the oral administration of 0.52mg Damiana extract daily on various days. The experimental animals were randomly divided into four groups (A, B, C, D) of five each with the D as control. The rats in group A received 0.52mg in 1ml of Damiana extract for a day, those in group B 0.52mg Damiana extract in 1ml daily for a period of five days, while those in group C got 0.52mg/ml Damiana for ten days. The animals were sacrificed at the end of each experiment and the liver sections were obtained for routine histological investigation. Histological changes observed in the liver sections included dilatation of the central veins, cyto-architectural distortions of the hepatocytes, vacuolations, sparse and scattered sinusoids in the treated liver sections. Our results suggest that the liver functions could also have been adversely affected due to the distortion of the cyto-architecture and sparse and scattered sinusoid of the liver. It is recommended that further studies aimed at corroborating these observations be carried out. Keywords : Damiana, Histological effect, Liver, Wistar rats. Annals of Biomedical Science Vol. 2 (2) 2003: pp. 99-106