Abstract

James Kalu Okpala*, Ovbiagele M.A and Chijioke Philips

Carotenoids are hypothesized to play a preventive role in a variety of diseases; however, little is known about their biodistribution and metabolism in humans and tissue specific bioactivity. This study is aimed at investigating the effects of carotenoid on the spleen of adult wistar rats following low and high administration. Twenty healthy wistar rats weighing between 150-210 kg were used. They were designated as groups A, B, C and D. Group A served as the control and received 0.35 ml of distilled water; the experimental groups B, C and D received 0.4 ml, 0.5 ml and 0.6 ml of carotenoid respectively for twenty-one days. Twenty four hours after the last administration, the animals were weighed, anaesthetized under the influence of chloroform vapour and dissected. Spleen tissues were removed, weighed and trimmed down to a size of 3 mm × 3 mm and fixed in 10% formaldehyde for histological studies. There was significant weight gain of experimental groups related to the control. The relative spleen weight of the experimental groups was statistically similar with that of the control. Histological finding showed that there was no destruction of the cytoarchitecture of the spleen tissues. These findings suggest that low and high consumption of carotenoid may not put the spleen at risk of adverse histopathological conditions.