THE SEED-EXTRACT OF THE HERB PORTULACA OLERACEA AMELIORATES EPILEPSY-INDUCED TESTICULAR AND HEPATIC INJURIES IN MALE ALBINO RATS | ||||
| Egyptian Journal of Zoology | ||||
| Article 5, Volume 64, Issue 64, December 2015, Page 87-116 | ||||
| Document Type: Original Research Papers | ||||
| DOI: 10.12816/0019286 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| Nadia Moustafa; Manal Abdul-Hamid | ||||
| Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| The present study aims at evaluating the effects of the seed extract of purslane (Portulaca oleracea) on improvement of histological and ultrastructural changes in the liver and testes of epileptic rats. This study was assessed in male albino rats, each weighing 120-150 g. The rats were divided into four groups. The 1st group was regarded as control. The 2nd group was injected with pilocarpine (300 mg/kg body weight).The 3rd group was injected with pilocarpine and then received a daily dose of carbamazepine (50 mg/kg body weight). The 4th group was injected with pilocarpine and then received a daily dose of the seed extract of Portulaca oleracea (50 mg/kg body weight). The animals were sacrificed after three months of treatment. The histological study showed that pilocarpine induced marked changes in the liver including mononuclear cell infiltration, vacuolar degeneration and fatty change, while carbamazepine caused proliferation of bile ductless and congestion of the blood vessels in the hepatic tissue. In the testis, the histopathological alterations induced by pilocarpine included thickening of the boundary tissue, maturation arrest and oedema. Carbamazepine revealed desquamation, vacuolation and hypoplasia of the germ cells of seminiferous tubules. Ultrastructural observations in the present work proved that both pilocarpine and carbamazepine caused histpathological alterations in the liver and testis. In the liver, pilocarpine induced nuclear degeneration, oedema and cytoplasmic vacuolation, while carbamazepine caused deposition of lipid droplets and damage of mitochondria in the hepatocytes. In the testes, both pilocarpine and carbamazepine caused cytoplasmic vacuolation, fatty change, vacuolation of mitochondria and nuclear pyknosis of the germ cells, in addition to a decrease of the lipid droplets in Leydig cells. This study showed that treatment of epileptic rats with Portulaca oleracea seed-extract is effective in ameliorating the injured liver and testis. This improvement may be due to its antioxidant properties and scavenging abilities against active free radicals. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Epilepsy; Pilocarpine; Carbamezapine; Purslane seed extract; Liver; testis; Histopathologyical and Ultrastructural study | ||||
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