Mucuna urens Consumption and its Implications on the Ultrastructure of the Kidney and Spleen: A Laboratory Investigation

Mucuna urens or horse-eye bean is a plant that belongs to the family fabaceae, commonly found in home gardens in the South Eastern parts of Nigeria where the seeds are used as a major soup condiment for thickening. Histomorphology, blood parameters and weight of the kidney and spleen administered with ethanolic extract of Mucuna urens were investigated in 24 adult male albino rats weighing between 107g-167g. The rats were divided into 4 groups of 6 rats each. Group 1 was the control, while 2, 3 and 4 were the experimental groups. The seed extract was administered orally for 28 days according to their body weight. Group 1 was administered 5 ml of distilled water, groups 2-4 were administered, 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg of extract, respectively. After sacrifice, blood sample was obtained for red blood cell count, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration and white blood cell count. Kidney and spleen were dissected out and fixed in 10% buffered formalin, then processed to obtain paraffin sections. The tissues were stained in H&E. Group 1 kidney showed normal cytoarchitecture. Groups 2-4 showed dose-dependent degenerated glomeruli, enlarged Bowman’s space, shrunken glomerulus and eroded tubular epithelium. Group 1 of the spleen showed normal cytoarchitecture. The photomicrographs from groups 2-4 spleen also showed dose-dependent white pulp and red pulp hyperplasia, and increased fibrosis in the trabeculae. The weight of the kidney, spleen and haematological parameters were not significantly affected. Conclusively, the ethanolic extract of Mucuna urens led to damage of renal tubules and collapse of the glomerular capillaries and altered immune status in terms of reactive lymphocytic proliferation that was observed.