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ABSTRACT
Tamarindus indica is commonly known as tamarind and is one of the important tropical fruit trees in the sub-Indian continent. It is a versatile plant with all its part having at least some nutritional or medicinal use. Tamarindus indica seed extract was found to contain a lot of phytochemical constituents of pharmacological importance and are relatively safe on the kidneys. Mercury chloride (Hgcl) is a white crystalline solid histologically also known as corrosive sublime. Mercury chloride when absorbed can cause renal damages. Exposure of mercury chloride is a global concern because it is widespread in the environment due to its multiple industrial, domestic, agricultural and medical usage. The kidneys are two reddishbrown bean-shaped blood-filtering organs. They are responsible for filtering minerals from the blood, maintaining overall fluid balance, excreting waste products, and regulating blood volume. On exposure of the kidney to mercury chloride it can damage the tubules. This research was carried out to determine the ameliorative effect of Tamarindus indica seed on mercury chloride-induced kidney damage in adult wistar rats. Twenty (25) adult wistar Rats weighing between 180g to 280g were randomly assigned into five groups (A, B, C, D and E) of five (5) rat each. Group A serve as control, Group B were administered 1mil of mercury chloride only, Group C was administered 500mg/kg BW of Tamarindus indica only, Group D and E served as treatment group. The administration lasted for thirty days and was done orally using an orogastric tube. At the end of the administration, the animals were sacrificed afterward the kidney was harvested and fixed in 10% formal saline and were processed histologically and stained with H&E stains. The slides were examined under low power microscope and photomicrographs taken. The results reveal that there was no significant increase or decrease in body and kidney weight of rat across all groups. There was a significant decrease in body weight change for rats treated with mercury chloride only when compared with control this suggest that mercury chloride have a negative effect on the body weight. There was a significant increase in the kidney Organo-somatic index for rats treated with 250mg/kg and 500mg/kg of Tamarindus indica when compared with rats treated with mercury chloride only. Biochemical evaluation shows significant difference in the level of sodium (Na) and urea while there was no significant difference in the level of potassium (K), bicarbonate (HCO3), creatinine and chloride (CL) recorded. Histological analysis revealed that mercury chloride caused damages to the renal tubules and blood vessels Gross morphological changes include congestion, dilatation, heavy interstitial infiltrates of inflammatory cells and tubular necrosis in kidneys. It was notable that kidney was adversely affected in mercury-treated group. When 250mg/kg of tamarind extract was administered it achieved a near complete mitigation of the effect of mercury chloride which was the vascular and tubular necrosis. 500mg/kg Tamarindus indica achieved a certain measure of mitigation however there were still some remnants of the damage in the blood vessels of the gland.
