Histomorphological Evidences of Moringa oleifera's Ameliorative Effects against Lead Toxicity in Cerebral Cortex

ENGLISH/ANGLAIS] Affiliations: 1 Anatomy Department, Ben Carson Sr. School of Medicine, Babcock University, NIGERIA 2 Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ilorin, NIGERIA 3 Anatomy Department, College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, NIGERIA * Email Address for Correspondence/ Adresse de courriel pour la correspondance: olaowolabi001@yahoo.com Accepted/Accepte: February 2014 Full Citation: Owolabi J, William F, Olanrewaju J, Etibor T, Fabiyi O, Histomorphological Evidences of Moringa oleifera’s Ameliorative Effects against Lead Toxicity in Cerebral Cortex. World Journal of Life Sciences and Medical Research 2014;3(2):53-8. Lead toxicity has been a global health challenge due to the seriously deleterious effects produced on most body tissues by lead poisoning. The primary objective of this research was to investigate and evaluate the possibility, nature and extent of Moringa oleifera leaf extract on the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex of experimental animal models modulated into conditions relatively similar to those of the human body. Thirty male rats (n=30) were used and divided into five groups, with six in each group (n=6), labeled Groups A–E. Group A served as the control, Group B was administered moringa only, Group C was administered Lead only, Group D was administered lead and moringa concurrently and Group E, lead for the first half of the treatment period and thereafter moringa extract. All administrations lasted 30 days; employing dosages of 50mg/kg body weight of lead and 100mg/kg body weight of moringa. The animals were sacrificed and histological preparations were made from the cerebral cortex tissues for histological analysis. Lead produced significant neuronal loss in the treated groups as observable in the numerous vacoulations in the photomicrographs. Moringa leaf administration, whether concurrently or after lead treatment produced observable ameliorative effects. Moringa oleifera leaf extract produced ameliorative effects against lead toxicity in the cerebral cortex.