Prophylactic and regenerative effects of alcoholic extract of Moringa oleifera on rat lung tissue following lead-induced damage ORIGINAL ARTICLE Eur. J. Anat. 17 (2): 115-122 (2013) Joshua Owolabi 1 , Olaide Ghazal 2 , Micheal Dare 2 , John Olanrewaju 2 , Ademola Caxton-Martins 2 and Felicia William 3 1 Department of Anatomy, Ben Carson Sr. School of Medicine, Babcock University, Nigeria, 2 Department of Anatomy, College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, Nigeria and 3 Department of Pharmacy, University of Ilorin, Nigeria Corresponding author: Joshua O. Owolabi. Department of Anatomy, Ben Carson Sr. School of Medicine, Babcock University, Nigeria. Tel: +2348064884305. E-mail: olaowolabi001@yahoo.com SUMMARY The research work was carried out to investi- gate and evaluate the prophylactic and regenera- tive effects of alcoholic extract of Moringa oleifera leaves on lead induced damage to lung tissues of adult Wistar rat models. A total of 30 adult male Wistar rats (n=30) were used for the investigation and were randomly distributed into groups to give relatively equal average group weights. Animals were distributed into five groups of six animals each and labeled Groups A-E. The Group A served as the control group; Group B was admin- istered moringa extract only; Group C was admin- istered lead acetate solution only; Group D was administered lead acetate solution for the first eight days and moringa oleifera for the remaining eight days and the Group E was administered Lead and Moringa oleifera concurrently for the whole 16 days of administration. A relative uni- form dosage of 50mg/kg body weight of lead was administered to the rats in the treated groups while 100g/kg body weight of Moringa oleifera extract was administered. The rats were sacri- ficed, 24 hours after the last administration using the method of cervical dislocation. The lung tis- sues were excised. Half of the samples from each group were fixed in formol saline and there- after processed for histological demonstrations using the Haematoxyline and Eosin staining tech- niques as well as the Feulgen DNA staining tech- niques. The remaining parts were homogenized for biochemical assays. Results indicated that lead would cause observable tissue damage to lung when administered at the dosage used in this investigation. The damages observed in this study included the disruption of the general histo- logical architecture of the lung, disruption of the alveoli as well as damage to lung tissue cells as well as disruptions in carbohydrate metabolism enzymes levels. Moringa administration at this dosage reduced the severity of lead damaging effects to the lung by producing mild regenerative effect. Key words: Moringa oleifera extract – lead toxici- ty – regeneration – prophylaxis– Wistar rat INTRODUCTION Moringa oleifera (moringa) and related species are well known for their medicinal value and are largely grown in Asia and in the tropics, with India reportedly being the largest producer of the plant. Several studies have been carried out on the 115 Submitted: 4 September, 2012. Accepted: 31 January, 2013.