Histological Changes in Liver and Kidney of Rabbit Buck Fed Diet Containing Cottonseed Cake Supplemented with Vitamin E.

Abstract

Sixty-four (64) weanling rabbit bucks, aged 5-6 weeks with an average weight of 511.98g, were randomly allocated to eight treatment combinations comprising four levels (0, 5, 10 and 15%) of cottonseed cake (CSC) and two levels (0, 30mg / kg diet) of vitamin E supplementation with eight replicates in a 2x4 factorial experiment. Animals were fed the treatment diets for 20 weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, 3 rabbits per treatment were sacrificed and their internal organs including liver and kidneys were carefully dissected out. Samples of organs were fixed in 10% formaldehyde solution and later processed for histological assessment. It was observed that CSC induced various degrees of damage to the architecture of the liver and kidney of the rabbit bucks. Histological examination revealed a dose-dependent degeneration, cellular infiltration and necrosis of liver hepatocytes. At all levels of the CSC, vitamin E (30mg/kg diet) corrected the damages done to the liver. Mild degenerative changes were observed for the kidney structure at 5% and 10% CSC levels. The renal degenerative changes became severe at 15% CSC inclusion level. Vitamin E supplementation ameliorated these adverse effects. Thus, vitamin E conferred some protection on the liver and kidney against the adverse effects of the CSC. It was concluded that if cottonseed cake is included in diets of rabbits at any level, it should be adequately supplemented with vitamin E.

Keywords: Rabbit buck, Liver, Kidney, Histology, Cottonseed cake, Vitamin E.