The Morphological Effects of Chronic Consumption of Extracts of Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn Drinks on the Liver of Adult Wistar Rats

Abstract

The effects of chronic consumption of hot water extracts of the flower of H. Sabdariffa (zobo) drinks on the liver of adult wistar rats was investigated. The rats of both sexes (n=20), with an average weight of 200g were randomly assigned into test (n=10) and control (n=10) groups. The rats in the test group was given zobo drinks liberally on a daily basis for thirty days while the control group received water liberally for the same period and through the same route. The rats were fed with grower's mash obtained from Edo Feeds and Flour Mill Limited, Ewu, Edo state, Nigeria. The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation method on the thirty-first day of the experiment and the liver was carefully dissected out, dried, weighed, and quickly fixed in 10% formal saline for further routine histological study. The microanatomy (H & E) indicated that the liver in the test group showed some level of distortion and disruption of the cytoarchitecture with some marked congestion of blood at the central vein of the treated liver. There is an obvious reduction in the size of the hepatocytes and distortion of the collagen tissue of the treated liver as compared to the control group. The findings also indicated that there was a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in weights (g) of the test liver (group B) as compared to the control group. Chronic consumption of zobo drinks may therefore have an adverse effect on the liver of adult Wistar rats. It is recommended that further studies aimed at corroborating these observations be carried out.