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ABSTRACT
The eating of clay popularly known as Geophagia is a deliberate or conscious intake of earth or soil through the mouth into the body. Many reasons have been attributed to edible clay ingestion which include among others; cultural belief cravings, taste, smell, peer influence, and to prevent vomiting and spitting. Haematological changes are commonly used to determine the body status and to assess the impact of environmental or pathological stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of oral administration of Edible clay (Eko) suspension on some haematological parameters of Wistar rats. Forty (40) healthy Wistar rats weighing 150 – 250 g were sourced from the animal house of the Department of Pharmacology, University of Benin and housed in the same location. The animals were sorted into four groups name group 1 to 4 and further subdivided into 2 subgroups tagged week 2 and week 4 with five rats each (n = 5). The animals were maintained under standard environmental conditions and allowed free access to feed and water, after which they were allowed to acclimatize for two weeks before the start of the study. Group 1 was the control and orally received distilled water daily, while Groups 2–4 received various doses of edible clay suspension ranging from 200, 800 and 1600 mg/kg respectively, through the same route for 28 days. Five rats were sacrificed from group 1 to 4 on the second and fourth week (each of the subgroups 1 and 2 respectively). Blood samples were collected by cardiac puncture, into heparinised bottles for hematological analysis. Results were presented as MEAN ± SEM in tables and figures. Values with P<0.05 were considered significant. Results obtained from this study showed that there was a significant decrease in Monocyte count in the 3 dose groups compared to the control, a significant decrease in Granulocyte count for the low and high dose groups compared to the control, and a significant decrease in Platelets count in the low dose group compared to the control after two weeks of treatment with edible clay suspension. After four weeks of treatment, there was a significant decrease in White Blood Cell count and Haematocrit for low dose group compared with control, a significant decrease in Mean Corpuscular Volume and Platelets count in medium dose group compared with control and a significant increase in Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration in the medium dose group compared to control. It can be inferred from this study that the ingestion of Edible clay alters the normal concentration of some haematological parameters.
