Some Morphological and Biochemical Changes in the Liver of Adult Wistar Rats Following Lead Acetate Exposure

Lead is one of the toxic metals that have been known to be a major environmental pollutant across the world which has been implicated in the etiology of diverse diseases associated with metallic intoxication. Lead is toxic to virtually all organs of the body and has been shown to have significant debilitating effects on the nervous, renal, hepatic and hematopoietic systems. The liver is considered as one of the target organs affected by lead toxicity owing to its site of storage after exposure. Lead could be found in food, drinking water and commercial products. This study investigated the histomorphological effect of lead on the liver of adult wistar rats.

Thirty-six adult wistar rats of both sexes weighing 120 g-250 g were randomly separated into four groups; group A, B, C and D with each group containing 9 rats. Group A rats which served as the control, was maintained on distilled water and standard feed for 28 days, while group B,C and D (lead-treated groups) were treated with 0.09 mg/kg, 0.18 mg/kg and 0.2 mg/kg of lead acetate respectively for 28 days. The lead acetate solution was administered orally on daily basis. The weights of the wistar rats were recorded on weekly basis (before and during the weeks of administration).On the 29^th day, the wistar rats in group A,B,C and D were sacrificed by cervical dislocation ,blood was collected through cardiac puncture and used for biochemical analysis (ALP,AST and ALT ), then the liver of each rat was removed and weighed immediately using a sensitive balance and fixed in 10% formol saline, the tissue was processed and sectioned at 5 um and stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin for histological study.

Results showed that the mean body weights of the wistar rats decreased insignificantly (p>0.05) in group B and C when compared to control group A. The body weights of rats in group D decreased significantly (p<0.05) when compared with the control group. The mean liver weights of rats in lead-treated group B showed an insignificant decrease (p>0.05) when compared to control group. Liver weights of rats in Group C showed a significant increase (p<0.05) when compared to the control group. A significant decrease (p<0.05) in the liver weights of rats in group D was observed when compared to the control group. In biochemical analysis, there was statistically significant increase (p<0.05) in the level of ALP, AST and ALT in all the lead-treated groups (B, C and D). Histological study of the liver revealed that the liver parenchyma appeared distorted and degenerated in a dose dependent manner in the lead-treated groups compared with the control which showed normal hepatic histo-architecture.

Author(s): Ajibade AJ* , Akinola OT and Kehinde BD

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