Background: Telfairia occidentalis seed is a multipurpose
plant with many attributes and considerable therapeutic
potentials. Carbon Tetrachloride is one of the oldest and
most widely used toxins for experimental induction of liver
fibrosis in laboratory animals. The Liver is usually the organ
to receive the effect of this chemical thereby causing
hepatotoxicity, simply because of its method of metabolism,
as well as carrying out the first pass effect by metabolizing
endogenous and exogenous substances hence its
consideration.
Aim: The aim is to evaluate the histomorphologic anatomy
of the liver with Telfaira occidentalis seed upon CCL4
induced toxicity in wistar rats.
Methods: Telfairia occidentalis seeds were harvested and
oven dried at the temperature of 400c for 4 days with an
extract made from it using chloroform while the seed was
immersed in a bowl of chloroform and stirred. The Lethal
dose (L50) was made using the proposed new method and
at 5000 mg/kg, no mortality occurred. In this experiment, a
total of 20 adult wistar rats of 4 groups with 5 Rats in each
group were used; Group 1 (Control group) received food
and water ad libidum, Group 2 (Negative Control) received
food, water ad libidum and CCL4 alongside Olive oil at the
same volume of 0.5 ml, Group 3 received food, water ad
libidum, CCL4 alongside olive oil at the same volume of 0.5
ml and 400 mg/kg of the extract, Group 4 received food,
water ad libidum, CCL4 alongside olive oil at the same
volume of 0.5 ml and 800 mg/kg of the extract which all
lasted for 14 days. At the 15th day, the rats were sacrificed
and histological slides were made.
Results: The histological slides showed the rats in group 1
had their normal features; rats in group 2 had several
abnormal features and rats in group 3 and 4 showed
hepatocurative effect by bringing the liver gradually back to
normal.
Conclusion: At the end, it was shown that Telfairia
occidentalis seed has constituents that can improve the
status of an impaired liver.