Abstract
Lead (Pb) is a heavy metal environmental pollutant and toxicant. The present study investigated dose-related effects of maternal Pb exposure on pregnancy outcome. Wistar albino rats were gavaged with Pb nitrate (4 or 8 mg/kg) or vehicle daily from gestation day 0 until delivery. Length of pregnancy was noted. Number, birth weight and physical characteristics of pups were registered. Neonatal mortality was also recorded between days 1 to 15 post-delivery. Lead treatment significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited maternal body weight gain and caused abortion of pregnancy dose-dependently (4 mg/kg: 67.7%, 8 mg/kg: 100%). Besides, all occurring births in 4 mg/kg Pb-exposed rats were preterm (p = 0.0023) with morphological abnormalities in the head and limbs, and about 33% were still births. Also, average number and birth weight of Pb-exposed rats offspring were significantly (p < 0.0001) lower compared to controls. Furthermore, while body weights of offspring of control rats increased significantly (p < 0.0001) over time, those of Pb-exposed rats decreased significantly (p = 0.0077). Neonatal survival was 0% in Pb treated rats and 100% in control. The results demonstrate that maternal Pb exposure adversely and dose-dependently affects pregnancy outcome. Key words: Developmental toxicity, gestation, heavy metals, lead, reproductive toxicity, resorption.
Highlights
Lead is a heavy metal environmental pollutant which occurs naturally as lead oxide or lead salts
Body weights of control pregnant rats significantly (p < 0.05) increased over time, but there was no significant (p > 0.05) difference in body weight of rats treated with lead (Pb) throughout pregnancy (Table 1)
When compared to average body weight at conception, maternal weight increased time-dependently during pregnancy in the control group, p < 0.05 (Table 1). Their body weights on days 14 and 21 were higher than weight obtained on day 7, only that of day 21 was significant, p < 0.05
Summary
Lead is a heavy metal environmental pollutant which occurs naturally as lead oxide or lead salts. The metal is a major environmental pollutant and it has been detected in every facet of environmental and biological systems (Payne, 2008; Bilandzic et al, 2009; Clark et al, 2009), in industrialized cities. Lead is a known impairments in both human and experimental animals toxicant which causes functional and structural (Goswami and Bhattacharya, 2000; Loumbourdis et al, 2003; Reza et al, 2008). It is one of the oldest harmful agents known to mankind as its toxicity has been observed and documented since historic times of the Greeks, Romans and Arabs and even the Egyptians (Ahmad et al, 2003).
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