Histological and ultrastructural studies on the effect of Cleome droserifolia plant from Sinai on the liver and kidney tissues of rats

Sinai regions are characterized by the presence of large number of medicinal plants that are highly used in folk treatments but only a small number of these plants have received scientific and medical evaluation to assess their efficacy. Among these plants, Cleome droserifolia plant, which is commonly used in the Egyptian folk medicine for treatment of many diseases. The present study was planned to examine the safety of using an extract of Cleome droserifolia plant. This study focuses on the histopathological and ultrastructural changes induced by the plant extract in liver and kidney of the experimental rats. Cleome droserifolia treatment produced cellular swelling, cytoplasmic granulation with necrotic cells in addition to appearance of patches of depleted glycogen within the hepatic cytoplasm. The glomeruli were hypertrophied with thickening of Bowman's capsule and the renal tubules exhibited damaged epithelial lining cells in addition to the appearance of numerous lysosomes. Such changes in the present study may be due to the toxic effect or accumulation of one or more of the active pharmacological compounds of the plant in the liver or kidney tissues of the treated rats. It is recommended that future studies and chemical analytical techniques are required to separate and purify the main components from the plant responsible for safety and quality assurances for good practices of the plant.