European Journal of Anatomy

Official Journal of The Spanish Society of Anatomy
Cover Volume 14 - Number 2
Eur J Anat, 14 (2): 91-98 (2010)

The role of Calotropis procera in phenytoininduced toxicity in the postnatal developing cerebellum of Wistar rats - histological and gross morphometric studies

Innocent O. Imosemi1,2, Abraham A. Osinubi2

1Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.2Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Lagos State University, Ojoo, Lagos, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT The role of methanolic leaf extracts of Calotropis procera in phenytoin-induced toxicity in the postnatal developing cerebellum of Wistar rat was studied.Forty sexually mature female rats, weighing about 160 g of the Wistar strain were randomly divided into five groups of eight animals per group. They were mated and pregnancy confirmed by the presence of a vaginal plug. The animals were fed with a standard diet of rat pellets and water provided ad libitum. The control animals received water, while the test groups received 50 mg/kg of phenytoin, 300 mg/kg, methanolic extracts of Calotropis procera and 200 mg/kg vitamin C orally, both separately and in combination during and after pregnancy. At the end of the experiment, the offspring for days 1, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 50 post-partum, five per group, were weighed and killed. The brains and cerebella were dissected out and weighed and the cerebella processed for histological studies.In the phenytoin-treated animals the results showed a non significant reduction in the body weight of the animals, P>0.05, and a significant reduction in the brain and cerebellar weights, P<0.05, was observed. The administration of extracts of Calotropis procera and vitamin C reversed these changes when compared with the phenytoin-treated group, but not significantly when compared with the control. Histologically, the outer molecular, Purkinje and inner granular layers of the cerebellar cortex were intact, and in all the groups the external granular layer was not seen on day 21 post-partum.In conclusion, supplementation with methanolic extracts of Calotropis procera reduced the rate at which phenytoin induced toxicity in the postnatal developing cerebellum of Wistar rats.

Keywords: Phenytoin, Toxicity, Cerebellar development, Calotropis procera, Vitamin C

European Journal of anatomy
ISSN 2340-311X (Online)