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ABSTRACT
The use of Mercury chloride as fungicide, antiseptic, disinfectant and wood preservatives makes it a potential risk in the development of spleen toxicity as it binds to and damage sulfhydryl groups (-SH) in cellular structures leading to disruption of cellular functions. Chasmanthera is a medicinal plant rich in phytochemicals which plays an important role in medicine. This research was conducted to investigate the effects of aqueous extract of Chasmanthera roots on Mercury chloride induced toxicity on the spleen of Adult Wistar rats. A number of 30 Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups; each group containing 5 rats. Group A served as control while B, C, D, E and F served as treatment groups. The Wistar rats were fed with growers mash feeds and the rats had free access to feed and water throughout the entire period of this study. Group A which served as control was given food (feed mash) and 1ml of distilled water, Group B were administered Chasmanthera (200mg/kg body weight) + Mercury chloride (1ml/kg body weight), Group C were administered Mercury chloride (1ml/kg body weight) Only, Group D were administered Chasmanthera (400mg/kg body weight) + Mercury chloride (1ml/kg body weight), Group E were administered with Chasmanthera (800mg/kg body weight) + Mercury chloride (1ml/kg body weight), Group F were administered Chasmanthera (800mg/kg body weight) only. The experiment lasted for 28 days. At the end of the treatment period, the rats were anesthetized using chloroform, the spleen were harvested and weighed and immediately fixed in formal-saline to avoid autolysis and taken through tissue processing, results showed an increase in organ weight in the group treated with Mercury chloride only when compared with control while there was decrease in organ weight in group treated with Chasmanthera (800mg/kg). Histological results showed the activation of the local immune system of the spleen in groups treated with Chasmanthera, However there was optimal activation in group treated with Chasmanthera(200mg/kg).
