The effect of long term administration of lemon juice on rat (rattus rattus) liver

Abstract

The effect of the long term administration of lemon juice on rat liver was investigated. The experiment lasted for four weeks. 24 albino wistar strain rats (14 males and 10 females) of weight ranging between 150g - 200g were used for the experiment. The animals had ad libitum access to food and water throughout the period of the 6 weeks experiment. They were acclimatised for 2 weeks and thereafter divided into two groups which were exposed to different experimental conditions. The control group comprised 3 male and 3 female albino wistar rats. In addition to the ad libitum access to food and water, 5g/kg of saline was orally administered, to the group, every other day, for the period of 4 weeks. On the other hand, the test group comprised 14 male and 10 female albino wistar rats. In addition to the ad libitum access to food and water, 5g/kg of lemon juice was orally administered, to the group, every other day, for the period of 4 weeks. The levels of AST, ALT and ALP in serum were used to determine the state of the liver .The enzyme assay of the lemon juice treated rats showed some decrease in the serum levels of AST, ALT and ALP. The result of the study showed that lemon juice improves the health of the liver as it improves the ability of the liver to store its enzymes.

Keywords: lemon, hepatocyte, albino wistar rats and ad libitum.