Histological Studies Of The Effects Of Monosodium Glutamate On The Stomach Of Adult Wistar Rats

Abstract

The effect of monosodium glutamate (MSG) used as food additive on the stomach of adult wistar rat was investigated. Both adult male and female Wistar rats (n=30) of average weight of 186g were randomly assigned into two treatments (n=22) and control (n=8) groups. The rats in the treatment groups received 3g and 6g of MSG thoroughly mixed with grower's mash daily for fourteen days. The control rats received equal amounts of grower's mash without MSG added daily. The grower's mash was obtained from Edo Feeds and Flour Mill Ltd, Ewu, Edo State and the rats were given water ad libitum. The rats were sacrificed on day fifteen of the experiment. The stomach was carefully dissected out and quickly fixed in 10% formal saline for routine histological procedures. The histological findings in the treated groups showed evidence of increased basophilia and cellular hypertrophy in animals given 3g of MSG, while degenerative and atrophic changes in the group with 6g of MSG was more pronounced. These findings indicate that MSG may have some deleterious effects on the microanatomy of the stomach of adult Wistar rats at higher doses. It is recommended that further studies aimed at corroborating these findings be carried out.

Keywords: Monosodium glutamate, Histological effect, vacuolations, stomach and wistar rats.

Annals of Biomedical Sciences Vol. 6 (1) 2007: pp. 45-52