The Histological Effects of Ethanolic Leaf Extract of Moringa oleifera on Potassium Bromate Induced Renotoxicity in Adult Wistar Rats

Abstract

Much attention has been drawn to the toxic effect of potassium bromate on humans. However, it is clear that the toxicity is related to the vital organs like the liver and kidney, hence the present study is geared towards not only unravelling the toxic effect of potassium bromate on the kidney but more importantly investigating the protective effects of ethanolic leaf extract of Moringa oleifera against potassium bromate induced toxicity. Twenty adult wistar rats (185-220g) were divided into four groups of five animals each. Group A was given normal rat feed and water as the control; group B was administered 250mg/kg body weight of ethanolic leaf extract of Moringa oleifera, group C was administered 100mg/kg body weight of potassium bromate while group D was administered 100mg/kg body weight of potassium bromate and 250mg/kg body weight of ethanolic leaf extract of Moringa oleifera. All the treatments were given daily orally for twenty eight days. Twenty four hours after the last administration, the animals were anasthezised under chloroform vapour and dissected. The kidney tissues were harvested, weighed and fixed in 10% formal saline for histological studies. Histological observation showed that following administration of ethanolic leaf extract of Moringa oleifera there was no acute nephritis in the nephrons even in the group treated against potassium bromate. The result of this study shows that ethanolic leaf extract of Moringa oleifera did not cause any histopathological lesions in the kidney of adult wistar rats. The extracts may contain antioxidant properties against potassium bromate induced toxicity.

Keywords: Rauwolfia vomitoria, Moringa oleifera, Hepatotoxicity, Renotoxicity, Wistar rats