Changes in the hematology, serum electrolytes and liver histology in diet induced obese rats

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has a broad spectrum of diseases ranging from simple liver inflammation to steatosis, leading to fibrosis and cirrhosis. Weaning Wister rats weighing 30g were fed on different diets. Animals were divided into four groups, control and three experimental groups (n=10 each group). The control group was given normal rat chow while experimental group I was fed on diet “A“ (33% fat + 33% Carbohydrate + 34% rat chaw), group II on diet “B“ (50g Nigella sativa seeds/kg of A) and group III on diet “C“ (50gm Psyllium seed husks /Kg of A). The animals were kept in 12h dark and light cycle under controlled temperature and were fed on these diets until they weighed 300g or more. Hematological and biochemical studies were performed to observe the changes in the blood profile, electrolytes and serum proteins. The data showed that there were significant changes in the blood profile of the experimental groups as compared to the control. Hematocrit (HCT) percentage (P<0.01), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) (P<0.001), hemoglobin (Hgb), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and percentage RDW (P<0.05) increased significantly in the experimental groups when compare with control samples using one way ANOVA. Whereas MCH concentration (MCHC) (P<0.001), mean platelet volume (MPV) (P<0.001) and platelet count (P<0.05) were significantly decreased. Among electrolytes K+ (P<0.001) and Cl-; (P<0.05) was increased significantly in experimental groups while the changes in the Mg++ were not significant.The excised livers had shown prominent changes in the structure of liver with presence of scars, widening of the sinusoidal spaces and hardening of the liver margins with changing color that might be due to fat deposition. We can conclude that fatty diet can impact the blood profile along with biochemistry. There are direct effects on the tissue integrity and fat deposition may lead to the abnormal functioning of the organ.

Fat - Hepatocytes - Liver - Nigella sativa - Psyllium seed husk