Aim: The present study was aimed at evaluating the effect of Rauvlfia vomitoria (RV) on mercury-induced changes on the hippocampus of adult Wistar rats.

Methods: Thirty adult Wistar rats were divided into 6 Groups of 5 animals each. The Control was administered with water, Groups 2 and 4 were administered 49.8mg/kg body weight (bwt) of HgCl2 and 250mg/kg bwt RV, Group 3 was administered with 750mg/kg bwt of RV, Groups 5 and 6 were administered with 49.8mg/kg bwt of HgCl2, 500mg/kg and 750mg/kg bwt of RV respectively. The administration lasted for 35days through oral route daily. Morris water maze (MWM) test for learning and memory was done and the animals were humanely sacrificed while tissue samples were harvested for histological studies.

Results: The result of MWM test showed increase in the mean time taken to locate the platform after mercuric chloride administration but was significantly decreased after the administration of R. Vomitoria (p<0.05). Observation of the hippocampus showed normal histology in Group 1, while Groups 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 showed some degenerative and cellular changes.

Conclusion: The administration of R. vomitoria has shown to ameliorate the degenerative changes in the hippocampus caused by mercuric chloride toxicity in Wistar rats.

 

Key words: Mercuric chloride, Hippocampus, Rauvolfia vomitoria, Wistar rats