Effect of Palm Wine Administration on the Histology of the Mammary Glands of Postpartum Female Albino Wistar Rats

Exclusive breastfeeding has been linked to many positive health outcomes, yet its widespread adoption as the primary mode of providing nutrition to infants remains challenging. The most common reported reason for early breastfeeding cessation is perception of inadequate milk production. Therapeutic approaches to ameliorating insufficient lactation exists in form of pharmaceutical and herbal galactagogues but the activities of herbal galactagogues remain poorly understood. To augment breast milk production, a substantial number of women turn to herbal galactagogues either due to lack of finance for pharmaceutical galactagogues or even following expert recommendations amongst the elite despite lack of information on their efficacy and safety. Worthy of note in this light is palm wine, the paucity of such information as regarding the efficacy and safety of this most commonly used pharmaceutical lactation failure remedy among others remain distressing to the medical field and the society at large. The study was aimed at obsevinging the histological changes in the mammary glands following administration of fresh palm wine in postpartum female albino wistar rats. Fifteen (15) female albino wister rats and nine (9) male albino wister rats with weight ranging from 180-200g was used for this study. They were acclimatized and vaginal smears were repeatedly collected and analyzed to determine the estrous cycle and fertile males introduced appropriately, at the confirmation of coitus they were randomly divided into three (3) groups of five (5) each. Following parturition, fresh palm wine was administered according to their body weight using the standard value of ten mils per kilogram body weight (10ml/kg BW) for a period of 14 days. On the 15th day the animals were then sacrificed, the mammary glands were harvested and fixed in 10% formal saline. Stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin and examined under the microscope. The control group showed a normal lobulo-alveolar system with proliferating ducts and acini lined by vacuolated epithelial cell, stroma present and blood vessels seen. Low dose test group showed very large ducts and lobules with highly branched alveoli lined by large vacuolated cells with irregular larger and empty lumen. The fibrous and fatty stroma is sparsely distributed and blood vessels are hardly visible. Test group 2 showed hyperplasia and deeply stained epithelial cells with closely packed alveoli having irregular lumen containing eosinophillic secretion in the lobules; the ducts were irregular; fatty and fibrous stroma is inconspicuous; blood vessels were also inconspicuous. The progressive increase in hyperplasia of the glandular tissue suggests the efficacy of fresh palm wine as a galactagogue.

Key Words: Mammary glands, Histology, Palm wine, Galactagogue, Breast feeding