Balogun Wasiu Gbolahan, Gbadeyan Temitope Ruth, Ishola Azeez Olakunle, Atoyebi Aminat Temitayo, Cobham Ansa Emmanuel, Enaibe Bernard Ufuoma.
Mental and Growth Retardation following Prenatal Exposure to Oral Bitter Leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) Extract in Developing Wistar Rats.
J Dow Uni Health Sci Jan ;9(2):43-7.

Objective: The teratogenic influence of maternal exposure to bitter leaf on the morphology of foetal nervous system was studied. Methodology: In this study, we used twenty five pristine female Wistar rats of an average weight of 215g. The rats were distributed into 5 groups with each having 5 rats. A separate cage was used to keep each group. Overnight, the females were kept with sexually active male of the same species. The following morning, Vagina smears was done on the female to confirm coitus, the presence of tailed structures in the smears was taken as sperm positive day and was taken as day zero of pregnancy. 400mg/kg of bitter leaf were administered orally between gestational days 1-7 (group B), 8-14 (group C), 15-21 (group D) and 1-21 (group E). The control (group A) was administered 2.0ml/kg/bw of normal saline throughout pregnancy. After parturition, the brain and body weights of the litters were recorded on postnatal days 1, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35. Results: Results show that the litters of the group C and E demonstrated significant (p < 0.05) reduction in all parameters measured when compared to the control and the group B and D. The foetal weight and brain weight decreased significantly (p <0.05) when compared with the corresponding values in the control group. The body to brain ratios of group C and E also show variation when compared to the control. Conclusion: Our results suggest that administration of bitter leaf during the second week of pregnancy may retard growth of the body and brain in Wistar rats.

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