Histological effects of long term administration of piliostigma thonningii stem bark on the liver of adult Wistar rats

Abstract

The histological effects of long term administration of piliostigma thonningii commonly used for the treatment of dysentery, fever, respiratory ailments, snake bites, hookworm and skin infections on the liver of adult wistar rats was carefully investigated. The rats of both sexes (N=21), with an average weight of 180g were randomly assigned into two test groups (n1 & n2=14) and control group (n3=7). Animals in the test group A received the extract of Piliostigma thonningii stem barks at a single dose of 200mg/kg body weight daily, animals in test group B received a single dose of 400mg/kg body weight daily for twenty eight days through the orogastric tube administration while the control animals received equal volume of distilled water through the same route and for the same period. The rats were fed with grower’s mash obtained from Edo Feeds and Flour Mill Limited, Ewu, Edo state, Nigeria. The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation on the twenty nine day of the experiment and the liver was carefully dissected out and quickly fixed in 10% formal saline for further routine histological study. The findings indicated that the liver in the test groups (groups A&B) showed some level of distortion and disruption of the cytoarchitecture with some marked congestion of blood mainly at the central vein of the liver. The presence of perivascular polymorph nuclei cells and congestion of blood in the sinusoidal space of the liver was also observed in the tested groups with that of group B more marked. Long term administration of extract of Piliostigma thonningii stem barks may therefore have an adverse effect on the liver of adult wistar rats.

Keywords: Piliostigma thonningii, liver, Wistar rats.