Abstract
This study examined the effect of post-natal lead exposure on the hippocampus of developing Wistar rats. Nine pregnant Wistar rats were randomly distributed into three groups of three rats each, consisting of a control Group 1 which received distilled water and experimental Groups 2 and 3 orally administered with 60 and 90 mg/kg bwt of lead acetate, respectively. The pups of the experimental Groups 2 and 3 were exposed to lead acetate via lactation from dams that were administered lead acetate from post-natal day (PND) 1 - PND 21. On PND 22, all the pups were weighed, and then euthanized. The brains of the pups were excised, weighed; lead deposit was quantified and fixed in Bouin’s fluid. The results revealed a significant (p 0.05) decrease in brain weight, significant increase(p<0.05) in brain somatic index (BSI), significant increase(p<0.05) in lead deposition, weak staining for Nissl substance and distortion in cytoarchitecture of the hippocampus of Wistar rat’s pups exposed to lead acetate compared to the control. Post-natal exposure to lead acetate via lactation caused an increase in lead deposition, decrease in body weight and distortion in the cytoarchitecture of the hippocampus of developing Wistar rats. Key words: Lead acetate, hippocampus, post-natal, lactation.
Highlights
Human child development is regulated by the interactions of both endogenous and exogenous factors (Gorini et al, 2014)
The result from the present study is dissimilar to the findings of Lewis and Pitts (2004) who reported an insignificant decrease in body weight of Wistar rat pups after 3-week post-natal exposure to lead acetate at (50, or 250 ppm) when compared with the control
The findings from the present study showed an insignificant decrease in brain weight of Wistar rats pups treated with lead acetate from post-natal day (PND) 1-21 when compared with the control
Summary
Human child development is regulated by the interactions of both endogenous and exogenous factors (Gorini et al, 2014). One of the exogenous factors affecting early development of neurobehaviour in children is the exposure to heavy metals (Burger et al, 2011). Lead (Pb), one of these highly toxic heavy metals, has been detected in every facet of environmental and biological systems (Clark et al, 2009), in industrialized cities. Lead exists in three forms: metallic lead, inorganic lead and organic lead (ATSDR, 2017) Human activities such as mining, manufacturing and burning fossil fuels can result in lead exposure. Lead damages the cells within the hippocampus causing memory and learning deficit Structural damages such as irregular nuclei and denaturation of myelin were reported in rats. Lead usually interferes with the neurotransmitter glutamate which is important for many functions, like learning and memory. In this study we examined the effect of post-natal lead exposure on the hippocampus of developing Wistar rats
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