Renal Morpho-Histological Changes and Antioxidant Enzymes Activities in Male Wistar Rats During Administration of Ethanol Leaf Extract of African Eggplant and Bitter Leaf

This study evaluated the sub-acute effect of African eggplant, bitter leaf plant, and their combination on the antioxidant enzyme activities, histological changes, and weight of the kidney in male Wistar rats. The rats were grouped into four; control group (A) which received no treatment and 3 test groups; group B (100mg/kg BW of African eggplant), group C (100mg/kg BW of bitter leaf) and group D (100mg/kg BW of bitter leaf and 100mg/kg BW of African eggplant). The treatment was administered for 14 days. Results from this study showed that there were no observed histological changes in the kidney of groups B and C when compared to the control group but in group D there was progressive abortion of the glomeruli. For antioxidant enzyme activities across all groups, there was significant increase in the GSH activity and decrease in CAT activity in the kidney. MDA activity in groups C and D increased but decreased in group B. Groups B and D showed decrease, while group C showed increase in SOD activity. Only groups B and D showed increase in the weight of the kidney. Observations from the results showed that the administration of the two treatments, even at different time intervals caused a decrease in important antioxidant enzymes alongside increase in lipid peroxidation. Moreso, there was onset of degenerative changes in the kidney of the rats that received the two treatments. Conclusively, from our findings, co-administration of bitter leaf and African eggplant may have toxic effect on the kidney.

Key Words: African eggplant, kidney, histology, bitter leaf, antioxidant