ABSTRACT
Plants have been used as treatments for thousands of years. Centella asiatica is a clonal, perennial herbaceous creeperwidely used as a blood purifier as well as for treating high blood pressure. This present study was carried out to investigate the protective effect of the ethanolic leaf extract of Centella asiatica on mercury chloride induced kidney damage on adult Wistar rats.
Twenty five Wistar rats were used for this research . The animals were divided into five groups (five per group) and were given access to standard feed and clean water. They were weighed before commencement and during the period of the experiment. Group A was the control group while Groups B to E was the treatment/experimental group. 1ml of distilled water was administered to Group A, Group B animals had 4mg/kg of HgCl2 administered to them, Group C animals had 250mg/kg of extract + 4mg/kg of HgCl2 administered to them as low dose , Group D animals had 500mg/kg of extract + 4mg/kg of HgCl2 administered to them as high dose while Group E animals had only 500mg/kg of extract administered to them. At the end of the experiment, the rats were weighed and sacrificed using chloroform as an anesthesia. Blood samples were collected in heparin bottles for Biochemical analysis and the Kidney was harvested and immediately fixed in 10% formal saline to prevent autolysis. This fixed organ was then taken for histological examination processing.
Result showed that there was no significant change in Body weight, Organ weight and Relative organ weight across all groups. The Oxidative stress result showed no significant change in Total protein, Glutathione peroxidase and Glutathione in serum. However, there was an increase in the MDA in Group B when compared to control. There was also a significant decrease in SOD in Group B. Group D however showed a significant increase when compared to Group B. There was no significant decrease in Catalase in Group B when compared to control but Group E had a significant increase when compared to Group B. The Kidney function test result showed that for Urea and Creatinine in serum, there was a significant increase in Group B and Group D when compared to control while Group C and Group E had significant decrease when compared to Group B. For Potassium in serum, there was a significant increase in Group B and Group C when compared to control while Group D and Group E had a significant decrease when compared to Group B. For Sodium in serum, there was a significant decrease in Group B when compared to control while Groups C, D and E had a significant increase when compared to Group B. Based on results of photomicrography, Groups A, D and E showed a normal histological feature of the Kidney with glomerulus, proximal convoluted tubule and distal convoluted tubule while Groups B showed dilated and congested tubules with eosinophilic substance in the lumen of the proximal convoluted tubule, Group C showed a dilated tubule with eosinophilic substance in the lumen of the proximal convoluted tubule.
In conclusion, there was a protective effect of Centella asiatica against the Kidney damage as seen from the result histology results. It can also be seen from the results that the extract has been beneficial in the kidney function test results.
