Abstract: Twenty-four (24) male and female adult Wistar rats weighing between 190 kg – 240 kg were randomly divided into four (4) groups: the Control group (A) received pelletized growers mesh and distilled water for four weeks while groups B, C and D were administered 400 mg/kg, 800 mg/kg and 1200 mg/kg of aqueous extract of areca nut respectively for four (4) weeks consecutively.The animals were sacrificed following 24 hours of fasting using chloroform anaesthesia. The oesophagus from each rat in each group were immediately harvested and processed for histological observations. In the histological assessment of the oesophagus, the aqueous extract of areca nut induced hyperplasia of the oesophageal mucosa at step-wise degrees, as the dosage increased with papillary projection of the mucosa into the sub mucosa region.The results of this study generally revealed that aqueous extract of areca nut caused morphological distortion in the oesophageal mucosa of Wistar rats.
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