ABSTRACT
Various studies on commonly used medicinal plants have been conducted in countries around the world, including Nigeria, India, and the United States. Humans have relied on the healing properties of plants since ancient times, and traditional medicine systems around the world have incorporated various plant-based remedies. About 80% of the populations in developing countries use herbal medicine to meet their primary healthcare requirements. Although several medicinal plants have been used as dietary supplement in treatment of various diseases, some of them possess some level of toxicity without prior knowledge of users. In this study thirty Wistar rats were used. The rats were divided into five groups, A, B, C, D, and E, each of which had six rats. Group A served as control group and B, C, D, E were treatment groups. Group A were given just feed and water. Group B were exposed to ammonia gas via inhalation in an enclosed cage for 12 hours daily. Group C were given 500mg/kg of Mangifera indica leaf extract. Group D were given 250mg/kg of Mangifera indica leaf extract and were exposed to ammonia gas via inhalation in an enclosed cage for 12 hours daily. Group E was given 500mg/kg of Mangifera indica leaf extract and were exposed to ammonia gas via inhalation in an enclosed cage for 12 hours daily. The administration lasted for thirty (30) days and was done orally using an orogastric tube. The animals were weighed and sacrificed after 30 days and the final weights of the rats were taken using compact electric weighing scale calibrated in grams. Cotton wool was soaked with chloroform of about 50ml in an enclosed container. The rat was put into the enclosed container with chloroform for about 2-5sec for anaesthesing. After anaesthesing, the rat was placed on supine position on the dissection table (trolley). Abdomino-thoracic incision was made to expose the thoracic viscera. Thereafter, blood samples were collected through the heart by the process of cardiac puncture using 5ml syringes. The blood samples were turned into EDTA bottles for full blood count analysis. Final body weight increases across all groups compared to the initial weight. However, the ammonia gas significantly (p<0.05) reduced the levels of white blood cells and lymphocytes while the level of haemoglobin and mean cell haemoglobin was reduced in the group treated with ammonia gas + 250mg/kg of the extract. A photomicrographic observation reveals that those exposed to ammonia gas only, through inhalation caused interstitial hemorrhage (IH), severe and interstitial infiltrates of inflammatory cells (IC) on the lungs of rats. Those exposed to ammonia gas plus 250mg extract of Mangifera indica showed normal lung’s architecture: Alveoli (AL), and terminal bronchiole (TB). Those exposed to ammonia gas plus 500mg extract of Mangifera indica showed normal architecture: normal architecture: Alveoli (AL), and terminal bronchiole (TB). The control group that was given only feed and water showed normal histological architectures of the lungs as well as the group treated with the extract only. Results from this study shows that Mangifera indica leaf extract has protective effects against ammonia gas induced lungs toxicity which could result to interstitial haemorhage, and interstitial infiltrates of inflammatory cells
