ABSTRACT

Numerous Ethnomedical scholars in the past and even now have made contributions to the development of the traditional medical system. medicinal plants like Moringa olifera have been conducted in countries around the world, including Nigeria, India, and the United States as an alternative medical therapy to complement the conventional treatment that has widely be reported to have serious adverse effect and   continue to hold great promise for the development of novel therapeutic molecules. WHO estimates that more than 80% of people worldwide still rely on herbal remedies as their main source of medication. 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 adult 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 Dichlorvos only via inhalation in an enclosed cage for 12 hours daily. Group C were given 500mg/kg of extract, Group D were given 250mg/kg of moringa leaf extract and were exposed to dichlorvos via inhalation in an enclosed cage for 12 hours daily. Group E were given 500mg/kg of moringa leaf extract and were exposed to dichlorvos 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 scarified 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, 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 inferior vena cava and through the heart by the process of venous and cardiac puncture respectively using 5mls syringes. The blood samples were turned into EDTA bottles for full blood count analysis. A photomicrographic observation reveals that exposure to dichlorvos exclusively through inhalation caused bronchiolar hemorrhage, alveolar hemorrhage, and interstitial inflammatory cell infiltrates on the lungs of rats. Those exposed to 250mg extract of moringa leaf plus dichlorvos showed normal architecture bronchial artery, activated cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system, terminal bronchiole. Those exposed to 500mg extract of moringa leaf plus Dichlorvos showed normal architecture alveoli, normal respiratory bronchiole, and interstitial infiltrates of inflammatory cells. The control group that was given only feed and water showed normal histology of the lungs. Results from this study show that 250mg/kg of Aqueous moringa leaf extract has protective effects against Dichlorvos induced lung toxicity and therefore it can be used as a substitute to combat pneumonitis and other lung diseases.