Abstract:

The small intestine is the largest component of the digestive tract and the major site of digestion and absorption. The great abundance of Al increases the risk of exposure and related health issues in humans. Aluminum remains considerable a public health problem, which can cause a number of adverse effects in many body organs such as intestines, testes, kidney, liver, heart etc. which can cause many diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and parkinsonism-dementia. For 4000 years, tiger nut has been used as a healthy plant because of its content of several minerals, energy, and oleic acid. It has a high content of arginine which liberates the hormone that produces insulin, besides its content of carbohydrates with a base of sucrose and starch.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the ameliorative effect of the tiger nut on the aluminum chloride induced histopathological changes on the small intestine of the wistar. The rats were divided into four (4) groups. Group 1 was the control that received normal saline, group 2 received tiger nut (cyperus esculentus), groups 3 and 4 received aluminum chloride and tiger nut (cyperus esculentus) all for 14days. The rats were humanely sacrificed and the proximal part (duodenum) of the small intestine was removed and fixed, processed and stained with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E). The slides were prepared and viewed with the light microscope. The result was obtained and observed. Therefore, from the results it was concluded that the tiger nut extract had ameliorative effect on the aluminum induced histopathological changes.