Purpose: To investigate the effect of processed horse eye bean on induced mutations in albino rats.
Methods: Forty-eight albino rats (24 males and 24 females) of 12 weeks old were used as the mammalian model for this study. The male rats were assigned to four groups and administered with processed horse eye bean at 0, 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg BW daily for 8 weeks. At the end of the treatment period the untreated female rats were sired by treated males in the ratio of 1:1. The males were then sacrificed and the epididymes were dissected out and processed for sperm count, sperm head abnormality test (SHAT) and induced mutation indices (IMI). The females were sacrificed and assessed for induced lethal mutation indices (ILMI).
Results: There were significant (P<0.05) and dose-dependent decreases in sperm counts while sperm head abnormality, induced mutation indices (IMI) and induced lethal mutation indices (ILMI) increased significantly (P< 0.05) when compared with control and in dose-dependent trend.
Conclusions: The results show that processed horse eye bean had induced mutation effects on mammalian model.
