ABSTRACT
Euphorbia hirta (Linn.), commonly known as "asthma weed" or "cat’s hair," is a widely used medicinal plant in tropical regions. Traditionally, it has been employed in the treatment of various conditions such as respiratory issues (asthma, bronchitis), gastrointestinal disorders (diarrhea, dysentery), skin infections, and fever. The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of Euphorbia hirta on liver health in Albino rats. Twenty (20) male adult albino rats were selected into group 1 (control) and group 2 (positive control) and two experimental groups 3 and 4. Afterwards, they were fed for 1 month following the established feed formulation. The animals were procured from the Animal House of the Department of Anatomy, University of Benin, and kept under standard conditions with unrestricted access to feed and water ad libitum. The rats were divided into four groups of four rats each. Group I served as the control, fed pelleted feed and water for 14 consecutive days. Group II was administered 1g body weight of Euphorbia hirta extract. Group III was administered 5g body weight of Euphorbia hirta extract. Group IV was administered 10g body weight of Euphorbia hirta extract. On the last day, the animals were sacrificed, and their stomachs were excised, washed with normal saline, and fixed in 5% formalin solution. Hematoxylin and eosin staining techniques were employed, and samples were examined under a light microscope. In this study, it was observed that all concentrations of Euphorbia hirta extract (1g, 5g, 10g) administered to the different groups (B, C, and D respectively) of wister rats caused no significant differences in the levels of Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) as compared to the control group. Also, Findings from this study shows the levels of Alanine Transaminase (ALT) and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) had no significant difference among the Group A, B, C and D. The microscopic examinations of the liver organs of these wister rats administered with various doses of Euphorbia extract (Group B,1g; Group C,5g and Group D,10g) did not show any significant changes in colour and structure compared with the control group rats’ organs. The features of steatosis showed in the liver sections may actually have been caused by other factors such as impaired protein metabolism or lipotoxicity. Thus, the non-significant increases observed in ALT, AST, and ALP activities strongly suggest that the administration of Euphorbia hirta extract did not alter the hepatocytes and, consequently, the metabolism of the rats as observed in the histopathology observations of liver tissue.
