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ABSTRACT
Caffeine is found naturally on the fruits and leaves of some plants. It is a stimulant which increases the activity of the brain and nervous system. The effects of caffeine may include; increased heart rate or breathing, increased mental alertness and physical energy which can last for up to 12 hours depending on the individual. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of caffeine on the spleen of Adult wistar rats. Twenty (20) adult wistar rats were randomized into five groups (A-D) consisting of five rats each.
Group A served as control while B, C, D was served as treated groups.
Group B was treated daily with 200mg/kg (low dose) of caffeine, Group C was treated daily with 400mg/kg (Intermediate dose) of caffeine, Group D was treated daily with 800mg/kg (High dose) of caffeine. The administration via an orogastric tube lasted for 21days. At the end of treatment regime, the rats were anaesthetized using chloroform and sacrificed. The spleens were harvested, weighed and immediately fixed in 10% formal saline to avoid autolysis and was transported to the histopathology laboratory of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) for tissue processing. The results from this study showed that there was no significant increase (p>0.05) of body weight A-D when the initial body weight were compared to the final weights. There was also no statistically significant difference (p>0.05) in the splenosomatic index across groups (B-D) when compared to the control group (A), and no statistically significant difference in splenic weight across all the groups. The caffeine had no adverse effect on the spleen as revealed by the histological results.
