57 Author for correspondence: Dr. Alka R. Sawarkar Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Biochemistry, Nagpur Veterinary College, Nagpur-440 001, Maharashtra, India E-mail: alkasawarkar@gmail.com Tel.: +91-9604054245 Original article Effect of Moringa oleifera Lam. on haematological and histopathological parameters in sodium flouride induced toxicity in wistar rats Amardeep U. Kamble, Alka R. Sawarkar, Sonali D. Borkar and C.R. Jangde Department of Veterinary Biochemistry, Nagpur Veterinary College, Nagpur-440 001, Maharashtra, India Received January 2, 2017: Revised January 30, 2017: Accepted February 10, 2016: Published online June 30, 2017 Abstract The present investigation was undertaken to study the effect of Moringa oleifera Lam. on haema- tological and histopathological changes in the liver and kidney in wistar rats, induced with sodium fluoride toxicity and vitamin C. Thirty six female wistar rats were divided into six groups (T 1, T 2, T 3, T 4, T 5 and T 6 ), each comprising of six rats. T 1 served as negative control which received normal saline only. T 2 served as positive control, received sodium fluoride @ 20 mg/kg b.wt. only, T 3 received fluoride @ 20 mg/kg b.wt along with ascorbic acid @ 200 mg/kg b.wt and treatment was given to T 4 , T 5 and T 6 with different doses, viz., 250, 500 and 750 mg/kg b.wt of aqueous extract of M. oleifera, respectively along with sodium fluoride. The blood was collected after 28 days for serum haematological parameters study and then all the rats were sacrificed for histopathological studies. On total RBC count, though values were noted in increasing direction from graph but statistically analysed were found non significant. The haemoglobin, WBC and PCV were shown to be restored significantly on induced toxicity rats. Histopathological alterations in T 3 , T 4 , T 5 and T 6 were observed milder degree as compared to T 2 . The alterations in three ( T 4 , T 5 and T 6 ) groups when compared to the fluoride administered group showed high degree of protective effect treatment on kidney, by using aqueous extracts shows the toxic changes. Key words: Moringa oleifera Lam., heamatological parameters, wistar rats, sodium fluoride toxicity, vitamin C, histopathological studies 1. Introduction Fluorides are naturally occurring harmful contaminant in an environment (Raghuvansi et al., 2010). It is a cumulative poison and, thus leads to fluorosis, a serious public health problem. Fluoride causes damage not only to hard tissues of teeth and skeleton (Grynpas, 1990; WHO, 2002) but also to soft tissues, such as brain, liver, kidney, spleen and endocrine glands (WHO, 1984; Shanthakumari et al., 2004; Shashi and Thapar, 2001; Shashi et al., 2002; Zhan, 2006). Fluoride induced hepatotoxicity due to the formation of free radicals and decreased activity of the antioxidant system in hepatocytes of animals and humans have been reported (Chatterjee et al., 2016; Guo et al., 2003). Fluoride exposure also induces histopathological changes in liver involving focal necrosis, infiltration of leucocytes, swelling of kupffer cells, extensive vacuolization, hemorrhagic areas, ultrastructural alterations in hepatocytes and increased apoptosis in animals and humans (Chinoy et al., 2004; Basha and Rao, 2014). The fluoride-treated group showed significant differences in several heamatological parameters, including decreases in WBC, RBC, and PLT counts and neutrophil ratio (Atmaca et al., 2014; Banu Priya et al., 1997). The healing and prophylactic effects of M. oleifera was observed on lead induced damage to haematological and bone marrow in adult wistar rat (Owolabi et al., 2012). Copyright @ 2017 Ukaaz Publications. All rights reserved. Email: ukaaz@yahoo.com; Website: www.ukaazpublications.com The M. oleifera Lam. (syn. M. ptreygosperma Gaertn.) tree originated from Agra and Qudh in the northern eastern region of India, south of Himalayas (Mugal et al., 1999). Moringaceae is a single genus family with 13 known species. Among these, oleifera is most widely used and utilized species (Sengupta et al., 1956; Morton, 1991), commonly known as Drumstick or Horseradish (English), Shevga (Marathi), Muringa (Malayalam) and Sahjan (Hindi). It is a versatile tree useful, for human beings and animals and also has industrial values. It is one of the richest plant sources of Vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K (Anwar and Bhanger, 2003; Babu, 2000; Caceres et al., 1992; Dayrit et al., 1990; Delisle and Bakari, 1997). Moringa pod is an important commercial vegetable crop throughout India. Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the haematological and histological parameters in wistar rats induced with or without the sodium fluoride toxicity and supplementation of Vitamin C. 2. Materials and Methods The present study was carried out in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Nagpur Veterinary College, Nagpur Maharashra Animal and Fishery Sciences University, Nagpur-440 001, Maharashtra, India. The study has been designed to assess the ameliorative effect of the aqueous extract of the dried seed powder of the plant, M. oleifera on sodium fluoride induced toxicity in wistar rats. The parameters like hematological and histophalogical were studied. The study was carried out for the period of 28 days. The Institutional Animal Ethical Committee (IAEC) approved the experimental protocol (Reg No. 244/CPCEA). The experimental Annals of Phytomedicine 6(1): 57-62, 2017 DOI: 10.21276/ap.2017.6.1.8 ; Print ISSN : 2278-9839 and Online ISSN : 2393-9885 6(1):57-62 (2017) Ann. Phytomed.,