Effect of Diesel on Gastro-Intestinal Motility and Histology of Ileum of Female Wistars

---

Download this article as: 

ABSTRACT:

Crude oil is a common pollutant in Nigeria, it has been estimated that an average of 11-54mg/L of the oil is dissolved in our coastal watars. This work examined the effect of crude oil on gastro-intestinal motility and histology of the ileum. 18 female wistar rats were used for the experiment and divided into three; control group A, experimental group B and experiment group C. The group A was administered with Rat Chow and Water while, the group B and group C received 10mg/kg and 15mg/kg mixture of crude oil and water respectively for a period of 21 days. The animals were weighed and sacrificed after an overnight fast and oral ingestion of activated charcoal meal. It was observed that there was a significant reduction in weight gain of the experimental groups compared to that of the control group. Group B (10mg/kg) and group C rats showed increased in intestinal motility when compared to control group but between the two there was no significant difference. Histological sections of the ileum of experimental rats showed different structural distortions. We therefore conclude that oral ingestion of crude oil is capable of reducing gastrointestinal retention time and hinder absorption of nutrients which may be related to its ability to cause several structural distortion of the rats intestine.

KEYWORDS:

Ileum; Histology; motility and Crude oil