Effects of leonardite and lignite on blood parameters in rats exposed to lead acetate

Abstract

The study aimed to research in vivo changes in the hematological and biochemical parameters of laboratory rats' blood when they were continuously exposed to a moderate dose of lead acetate while receiving humic feed additives made of leonardite and lignite. Two-month-old white rats were used to assess the detoxifying properties of the humic compounds leonardite and lignite. The analog pair approach was used to create four groups of eight animals from 32 male laboratory rats for the study. Rats received a pre-meal injection of lead acetate at a dose of 7 mg/100 g of animal weight (1/110 LD50) using a veterinary feeding needle. By creating solutions from lignite and leonardite at a dosage of 18 and 25 mg/kg depending on the active ingredient, humic feed additives were supplied to animals. It has been demonstrated that lignite- and leonardite-based feed additives may affect the morphological parameters of lead acetate-treated rats' blood, including hemoglobin, hematocrit, erythrocyte, and platelet count. These parameters were very near to the levels of the intact rats, which suggests that these humic feed additives may have an anti-anemic impact. The effects of feed additives from leonardite and lignite on laboratory rats in groups that were also exposed to a toxic agent for all 21 days of the experiment led to the normalization of markers of the state of protein metabolism in the group of intact animals (serum protein, albumins, urea, creatinine), particularly activity of the enzyme’s aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase. As one of the most crucial indicators of lipid metabolism together with cholesterol, the concentration of triglycerides was slightly lower in the humic substances treated groups than in the intact animals. It was discovered that using a feed supplement made from leonardite in a dosage of 18 mg/kg, which contained more fulvic acids than lignite, led to more favorable blood test results in the research group.