Effect of Ascorbic acid on Mercury-induced changes on the liver in Adult Wistar Rats

Abstract

Mercury is among the heavy metals that have been reported to cause devastating health problems worldwide. The present work was aimed at investigating the effects of mercury chloride and Vitamin C administration on the cyto-architecture of the liver and some liver parameters. Thirty adult Wistar Rats of average weight of 200g were randomly divided into six groups of five rats per group. The animals were administered with different concentrations of mercury chloride orally for three weeks. Group one was the Control and was administered with normal saline, Groups two and three were administered with 52mg/kg body weight and 26.25mg/kg body weight of mercury chloride respectively while Groups four and five were administered with 52mg/kg of mercury chloride +5mg/kg of ascorbic acid and 26.25mg/kg of mercury chloride+5mg/kg of ascorbic acid respectively and Group 6 was administered 5mg/kg of ascorbic acid only. After three weeks of administration, the animals were sacrificed humanely, blood and tissue samples were collected for analysis. The results showed there was significant increase in liver biochemical parameters such as AST, ALT and ALP levels in the serum of treated animals (p<0.05). The result showed that the administration of ascorbic acid resulted in ameliorative effects on biochemical parameters and the effect was most pronounced on the liver of treated rats at higher concentrations of mercuric chloride which was dose dependent.