Effect of sambong (Blumea balsamifera L.) on the histology of the kidney and liver of mice

The study was done to determine the histological effects of varying doses of sambong (Blumea balsamifera L.), a medicinal plant on the kidneys and liver of albino mice (Mus musculus). Twenty four laboratory mice were used in the study. The mice were divided into 2 groups and were then force-fed with two varying doses of sambong. The first group received 0.21198 mg sambong three times a day an hour every after meal, the diuresis dosage group. The second group received 0.42396 mg sambong three times a day an hour every after meal, the anti-urolithiasis dosage group. The dosages were based from the administration instruction of the drug used. The mice had their meal at 7:00 am, 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm. No drug was administered on the first week which was considered as the week of acclimatization. At the end of the first week, 2 mice from each group were randomly dissected and labeled as the control. For the succeeding four weeks, two mice were dissected for each group at the end of every week. The kidneys and liver were then removed and processed. Light microscopy was used for the examination of the slides. The results showed that for the diuresis dosage group, beginning from week 2 onwards slight histological findings on the kidneys such as widening of the bowman’s space and renal tubular cells became ovoid to flat from its rounded shape were noticed. The lumen of the renal tubules widened and the brush borders became less visible, as the weeks increased these histological changes became more prominent. In the antiurolithiasis dosage group, significant histological changes were seen as early as the third week of administration and the later weeks showed changes on cytoplasmic and nucleic material. On the hand, the liver had no significant changes on its histology