Pathological Changes in the Liver of Albino Rats Fed Raw or Processed Sickle pod (Senna obtusifolia) Seed Meal Based-Diets

Abstract

A feeding trial was conducted for thirty (30) days to investigate the effects of feeding processed Senna obtusifolia seed meal (SOSM) based-diets on the pathological conditions of the liver of albino rats. Five experimental diets were compounded to contain 0% SOSM and 20% each of the raw, toasted, boiled and fermented SOSM based-diets. Sixty (60) young albino rats with initial average weight of 58.36- 73.83 g were randomly allotted to the five dietary treatments in a randomized complete block designed with three replicates of four rats each. At the end of the thirty (30) days, three (3) albino rats were randomly selected, sacrificed and their livers carefully removed and examined. The result indicated that the albino rats fed raw based-diet showed some forms of liver injuries (dark colour, inflammation and dark spots) on the liver while mild signs of liver injuries (slightly dark colouration and few spots) were observed on the livers of albino rats fed the toasted and boiled SOSM based-diets. The livers of albino rats fed 0% SOSM and 20% fermented SOSM based-diet were observed to be in normal conditions. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that incorporation of 20% fermented SOSM in the diets of albino rats had little or no deleterious effects on the liver of albino rat and is therefore recommended.