Hepatoprotective effects of Rauwolfia vomitoria extract on the liver of aduit wistar rats

Abstract

This work focuses primarily on investigating hepatoprotective effects of Rauwolfia vomitoria extract on the liver of adult wistar rats following oral administration. Twenty wistar rats of weights 195 215kg were divided into four groups designated as A,B,C and D. Group A served as the control and were orally administered with 0.4ml of distilled water daily; the experimental groups B,C & D were orally administered with 0.6ml, 0.75ml and 0.81ml of Rauwolfia vomitoria extract for twenty eight days. Twenty four hours after the last administration, the animals were weighed, anasthetized under chloroform vapour and dissected. Liver tissues were removed, weighed and trimmed down for histological studies. The final body weight of the experimental groups (B,C &D) increased significantly(P<0.001) with the control. The relative liver weight of the experimental groups B,C &D statistically increased (P<0.001) with the control (A). Histological results showed normal liver architecture in the experimental groups B,C, & D relative to the control (A). This study therefore suggest that consumption of Rauwolfia vomitoria extract at different doses did not induce hepatotoxicity in the liver of adult wistar rats.