Histological effects of chronic administration of <i>Phyllanthus amarus</i> on the superior colliculus of adult wistar rats

Abstract

Effects of administration of Phyllanthus amarus commonly used for the treatment of jaundice, diarrhea, dysentery, urogenital disease and wound on the superior colliculus of adult wistar rats was carefully studied. Rats of both sexes (n = 24), with average weight of 200 g were randomly assigned into two treatments (A and B) and control (C) groups of 8 rats each. The rats in the treatment groups (A and B) received 400 and 800 mg of aqueous extract of P. amarus per kg body weight respectively through the
orogastric tube administration daily for thirty days. The control group received equal volume of distilled water daily for thirty days through the same route. The rats were fed with growers marsh obtained from Edo Feeds and Flour mill Limited, Ewu, Edo State, Nigeria and given water liberally. The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation on the thirty-one days of the experiment. The superior colliculus was carefully dissected out and quickly fixed in 10% formal saline for histological study. The findings
indicate that rats in the treated groups (A and B) showed some cellular degenerative changes, hypertrophy, sparse cellular population and vacuolations in the stroma of the superior colliculus as compared to the control group. Chronic administration of P. amarus may therefore have an adverse effect on the visual and somatosensory motor sensibilities by affecting the microanatomy of the superior colliculus of adult wistar rats. It is recommended for further studies aimed at corroborating these observations.