HISTOLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE EFFECTS OF AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF CINNAMON BARK ON THE LIVER OF WISTAR RATS

The application of plants as herbal medicine has been used by various populations throughout human evolution, whereas people started to learn in selecting plants for food, to cure and prevent ailments and diseases. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of aqueous extract of Cinnamon bark on the liver of wistar rat. Twenty (20) Adult Wistar rats of weighing between 150 g-180g were used for this experiment. The rats were procured from the animal holdings of Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Benin, Benin City. The animals were housed in the Department of Anatomy, University of Benin. Care and management of animals was carried out in accordance with the guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals. The animals were allowed to acclimatize for a period of two weeks before commencement of experiment. The bark of Cinnamon was purchased from the vegetable market of “Stop to Shop” located opposite the University of Benin. The bark was chopped into little bits and allowed to dry at room temperature. The dried bark was pounded using wooden mortar and pestle and milled into fine powder in an electric blender. Five hundred grams (500g) of the powder were soaked in 2 liters of distilled water for 24 hours. The mixture was filtered with white filter paper and the residue would be separated from the filtrate. The filtrate was concentrated using Freeze dried technique in the National Centre for Energy and Environment at the University of Benin, Benin City. The rats were randomly assigned into a Control group (A) and three (3) treatment groups (B, C, and D) containing five (5) animals each. Rats in Group B were administered with 200 mg/kg aqueous extract of Cinnamon bark; group C was administered with 500 mg/kg aqueous extract of Cinnamon bark; Group D 1000 mg/kg aqueous extract of Cinnamon bark. At the end of the experimental period, the animals were sacrificed using Chloroform anesthesia and the Liver tissues were harvested and fixed in 10% buffer saline for routine histological procedure for hematoxylin and Eosin staining technique. Blood samples were collected from the descending abdominal aorta and preserved, in heparin coated tubes, for biochemical determination of Liver function tests. The data generated carried out using Statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 16) manufactured by international Business Machine Corporation (IBM) in Armonk, New York. The significance of the difference in the means of all parameters would be determined using one-way analysis of variance (95% confidence interval). Result obtained showed that the extract had no deleterious effect on the Liver of the rats. However there was activation of inflammatory cells aggravating toward the portal area. Further studies should be carried out to corroborate this finding