Effect of Crude Ethanolic Leaf Extract of Rauwolfia Vomitoria on the Fetal Lungs of Wistar Rats

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria

2 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria

3 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Anambra State University, Uli, Nigeria

Abstract

Rauwolfia vomitoria is a plant used in the treatment of hypertension, schizophrenia, and insomnia among others. This study investigated the effects of Rauwolfia vomitoria on the histology of the fetal lungs. Fifteen female Wistar rats weighing 180-200 g were divided into three groups (A, B, and C), consisting of five rats each. The animals mated overnight at estrous and the morning after coitus was designated day zero of pregnancy. Oral doses of 150 mg/kg and 250 mg/kg of ethanolic leaf extract of Rauwolfia vomitoria were administered to pregnant rats in groups B and C, respectively on day 7-11 of gestation, while group A served as the control group and were given distilled water. On day 20 of gestation, the rats were sacrificed and their fetuses examined and weighed. Fetal body weight, crown-rump and tail lengths were measured. Result showed significant (P < 0.05) higher anthropometric parameters, and the histological observations of the fetal lungs showed marked distortion of the normal lung cytoarchitecture in the treated groups compared to the control. These results suggest that doses of 150 mg/kg and 250 mg/kg body weight of the leaf extract of Rauwolfia vomitoria may cause intrauterine growth acceleration and may be pneumotoxic to the developing rat’s lungs with the effect being dose dependent

Keywords

Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences, D. Histology & Histochemistry
Volume 5, Issue 1
December 2014
Pages 1-7

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics