Histology of Kidneys of West African Dwarf Rams Administered Aqueous Extracts of <i>Aspilia africana</i> Leaves

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the histology of kidneys of West African Dwarf rams administered Aspilia africana extracts. A Completely Randomized Design with 4 treatments (T₁, T₂, T₃, T₄) and each treatment replicated 3 times was adopted. Each treatment had 6 rams with 2 rams/replicate. The rams (n=24), aged 6 to 9 months, average weight of 4.65kg and 4.85 kg were used in phases 1 and 2, respectively. Rams in phase 1 were administered aqueous A. africana extract orally at 0, 1000, 2000 and 3000 mg/kg Body Weight (BW) in T₁, T₂, T₃, T₄, respectively, for 64 days. In phase 2, rams received same extract orally at 0, 11000, 12000 and 13000mg/kg BW in T₁, T₂, T₃, T₄, respectively, for 30 days. The animals were fed 2kg mixed forage and 500g concentrate throughout the trials. The kidneys excised following slaughtering were fixed in 10% formal saline for histological examination. Results showed that, in phase 1, rams in all groups had normal histological features in the kidneys, whereas in phase 2, rams in the treated groups showed different degrees of tubular necroses and degeneration in their kidneys. These indicate that 11000 - 13000mg/kg BW of the extract could be toxic to kidneys of West African Dwarf rams.

Keywords: Aspilia africana, aqueous, histology, toxicity, rams.