The Effect of Ethanolic Extract of Olive (Olea europea L.) Leaves on BALB/c Mice

Olives has been mentioned in holly books, Quran and Bible, as medicinal and good nutritional food. People using it as a herbal medicine for centuries. However, we concern about its toxicity to some organs tissues. In this study, we observed histopathological changes on stomach, liver and kidney tissues of BALB/c mice after administrated with ethanolic extract of olive leaves (OLE). Male BALB/c mice were divided into three groups. Each group subsequently orally administrated with phosphate buffer saline (group-I), or OLE (100 mg/kg (group-II); 200 mg/kg (group-III)) for ten consecutive days before necropsy. Mice were sacrificed next day and stomach, liver and kidney tissue were observed for histopathological changes using hematoxyline-eosin. Observation using Corel Photo PX7. Stomach mucosal epithelial damage were 1.9% 3.2% and 1.'7%, hepatocyte damages were 40% 38.1%, 63,1%, Glomerular atrophy were 11.5% 9.9% and 11,5% kidney tissue bleeding area were 3.7%, 3.1%, 4.1% in group-I, -II and -HI respectively. Ethanolic extract of local olive leaves have mucoprotective activity on stomach tissues, but at 200 mg/kg have a toxic effect on mice liver and kidney tissues.