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ABSTRACT
Annona muricata, commonly known as soursop, has been traditionally used for its medicinal properties, including its purported nephroprotective properties. In contrast, Mercury Chloride is a known nephrotoxic agent, capable of inflicting severe damage to renal tissues. Twenty (20) Adult Wistar rats were housed in the Department of Anatomy, University of Benin. The animals were allowed to acclimatize for two weeks before the commencement of the experiment. The root of Annona muricata were gotten from the Farm Project of University of Benin, Benin City. The rats were categorised into four (4) groups with five rats (5) in each. Group A was control; Group B was given 5 mg/kg body weight of Mercury Chloride only; Group C was given 500 mg/kg body weight of Annona muricata only; Group D was given 500 mg/kg body weight of Annona muricata and 5 mg/kg body weight of Mercury Chloride. At the end of the 28-day experimental period, the rats were sacrificed through cervical dislocation. The kidneys were dissected through a midline incision made through the wall of the abdomen, they were fixed in 10% buffered saline for histological procedure. The result obtained showed that there was no detrimental change in the histological structure of the kidneys of the rats treated with Annona muricata only and those of the rats treated with Annona muricata and Mercury Chloride due to the nephroprotective properties of Annona muricata as stated earlier. The kidney tissue of the rats treated with Mercury Chloride only, however, showed profuse vascular congestion of the renal tubules.
