Abstract
Crude oil pollution of the environment occurs on a daily basis through different modes. This has become even more pronounced in the oil-mineral producing areas of the Niger Delta of Nigeria. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible effect of Bonny light crude oil on serum cholesterol and testosterone in Wistar albino rats, and to ascertain its possible endocrine disrupting effect on the reproductive hormone, testosterone. Eighty Wistar rats aged 15 to 17 weeks and weighing 193.6 to 220.0 g were used, and the experiment lasted for 28 days. The result showed that free testosterone was found to significantly decrease in all the groups among the male animals, except the control. However, a slight increase was observed in the female serum testosterone among the experimental groups. This increase was not significant (p>0.05). The result also showed that the cholesterol concentration in the males showed significant decrease (p<0.05), while in the females across the groups, significant increase in plasma cholesterol concentration were observed relative to the control group. We therefore suggest that Bonny light crude oil might have the potential to alter testosterone activity and may be a possible reproductive endocrine disruptor. Key words: Testosterone, cholesterol, endocrine disruptors, fecundity, reproduction.
Highlights
Widespread concern exists regarding the presence of pollutants in the environment which can interfere with normal endocrine functions in animals, including humans
The result showed that the mean concentration of cholesterol in the male group decreased significantly (p
The results of this study highlight the potential susceptibility of Wistar rats to reproductive endocrine disruption following exposure to crude petroleumcontaminated diet, vis-a-vis serum cholesterol and serum testosterone concentrations
Summary
Widespread concern exists regarding the presence of pollutants in the environment which can interfere with normal endocrine functions in animals, including humans. Traditional toxicological testing has focused on the ability of substances to cause obvious harm to adult or developing animals at high doses. The discovery that chemicals could cause harm to animals and possibly to humans in such subtle ways at low doses has challenged traditional views of toxicity and expanded gaps in toxicity testing in organism (Doyle and Lim, 2002). The use of crude petroleum as therapeutic and in folkloric medicine in some parts of mineral oil producing communities in the Niger-Delta is another deliberate exposure with obvious health implications. There are accumulating evidences which indicate that humans, domestic and wildlife species are suffering from adverse health consequences from exposure to environmental chemicals that
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