Pulmonary function tests of lentil mill workers in Gaziantep in turkey

ABSTRACT

Symplocos racemosa Roxb. is a medicinal plant widely used by the traditional practitioners in various disease conditions as single or in compounds, known as Lodh tree or Lodh Pathani. Effect of the aqueous extract of the stem-bark of Symplocos racemosa Roxb. [SRR] on food and water intake was studied using Swiss Webster mice. On a 24-hour metabolic studies SRR reduced the food and water intake and also the urination and the defaecation. For the toxicological study the alcoholic extract of the bark was used and Sprague-Dawley rats were used as experimental animal. In a 21-day long growth study no effect on the body weight gain was revealed. The administration of the alcoholic extract of SRR significantly reduces the weight of the male liver and increases the weight of the heart of both the male and the female rats significantly. It slightly increases the weight of the ovary and significantly increases the weight of the caput epididymidis but did not have any notable effect on other male sex organ weights. There were no other notable changes in the weight of other organs. A total of 28 tissues were subjected to histological evaluation. Of these, a gross histological change was observed in the kidneys. In the liver and thymus there were slight histological changes. No histological abnormalities were found in the rest of the tissues