The effect of ascorbic acid on mercury-induced changes on the histomorphology of the cerebellum of adult wistar rats

Abstract

Aim: The present study was aimed at evaluating the effect of ascorbic acid on mercury-induced changes on the cerebellar cortex of adult Wistar rats. Methods: Thirty adult Wistar rats of average weight of 200g were randomly divided into 6 groups of 5 rats each. The animals in Group 1 (control) were administered with distilled water, Groups 2 and 3 were administered with 52mg/kg and 26.25mg/kg body weight of HgCl 2 respectively while Groups 4 and 5 were administered with 52mg/kg of HgCl 2 and 5mg/kg of ascorbic acid and 26.25gm/kg of HgCl 2 and 5mg/kg of ascorbic acid respectively, while Group 6 was administered with 5mg/kg of ascorbic acid. The administration was through the oral route, daily for 3 weeks and the animals were humanely sacrificed. Thereafter, blood and tissue samples were harvested for analysis. Results: The result of the biochemical parameters showed a significant increase (P<0.05) in the mean SOD and LPO values after the administration of mercuric chloride and ascorbic acid. Histological observation of the cerebellar cortex showed normal histo-morphology in Groups 1 and 6 while, the cerebellum in Groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 showed some degenerative, necrotic and cellular changes. Conclusion: Ascorbic acid administration has shown to ameliorate the induced degenerative changes in the cerebellum caused by mercuric chloride toxicity in Wistar rats.

Ameliorative Effects of Ascorbic Acid on Mercury-Induced Learning and Memory Impairment in Rats

“…However, Mutter et al (2010), had reported that short term occupational exposure to high levels of mercury induced slight cognitive deficits and that, mercury has no effect on memory as observed from his Y-maze cognitive test for memory, which conversely disagrees with the present study. The findings from the present study also agreed with the work of other researchers who reported that many heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, thallium, manganese, drugs, solvents (Jomova and Valko 2011) and other organic compounds have the capacity to damage the nervous tissues (Ibegbu et al 2014) since these metals can cross the blood brain barrier to accumulate in brain tissues (Farina et al 2011). The brain uptake of mercury in rats is enhanced from the blood to the central nervous system across the blood-brain barrier by the L-type neutral amino acid carrier transport (LAT) system (Aschner and Clarkson 1987).…”

“…The toxic effects of these compounds are variable and diffuse, involving different parts of nervous system (Volko et al 2005). Mercury has been a major nervous system problem over decades (Brian and Fred 1995), it is a potential factor in brain damage (Ibegbu et al 2013;Ibegbu et al 2014) (Liuji et al 2002;Flora et al 2007;Verina et al 2007). This is because some of these heavy metals can cross the blood brain barrier and accumulate in brain tissues thus causing damage to these tissues (Farina et al 2011).…”

Effect of Administration of Mercuric Chloride on the Social Behavior, Neuromuscular Coordination, Motor Activity, Blood Parameters and Liver Structure Alterations in Mice Offspring

“…The liver sections showed necrosis of hepatocytes, vacuolization of the cytoplasm of the hepatocytes, polymorphism of nuclei and tissue and vessel congestions. These findings were in agreement with previous studies (Al-Attar, 2011;Burger et al, 2011;Quirino et al, 2012;Ibegbu et al, 2014). Also, HgCL 2 exposure to experimental rats showed congestion of hepatoportal blood vessels, edema in the portal tract, congestion of central vein indicating critical toxic effect of HgCL 2 (Ibegbu et al, 2014).…”

“…These findings were in agreement with previous studies (Al-Attar, 2011;Burger et al, 2011;Quirino et al, 2012;Ibegbu et al, 2014). Also, HgCL 2 exposure to experimental rats showed congestion of hepatoportal blood vessels, edema in the portal tract, congestion of central vein indicating critical toxic effect of HgCL 2 (Ibegbu et al, 2014). Because of exposure to HgCL 2 , the metabolic pathway of Kupffer cells and liver hepatocytes were affected and implied chronic illness of liver (Kumar et al, 2010;Sujatha et al, 2011).…”

Quality Assessment of Waterside River, Ogbor Hill Aba 4: Effect of Three-Point Samples on Hepatic Histo-Morphology and Some Seric Bio-Functional Indicators of Wistar Rats

“…Histomorphologic changes confirmed persistent toxic assault on organs in collaboration with seric chemistry results and at times as could not be detected by seric results [16,[40][41][42] . The congestion of central vein of the liver as noted in this study was consistent with hepatic response to heavy metals toxic assault in various animal models [6,7,[37][38][39]43,44] .…”