Biography
Biography: Aleksandra Buha
Abstract
Hepatotoxicity is the well-documented adverse health effect of widelly spread environmental pollutants-cadmium (Cd) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), although hapatotoxic effects of their mixture still need to be evaluated. The hepatotoxic effects of Cd and PCBs mixtures were investigated in nine groups of rats treated orally during 28 days with different dose combinations of Cd as aqueous solutions of CdCl2 and PCBs as Aroclor 1254 dissolved in corn oil (1.25, 2.5 or 5 mg Cd/kg b.w./day and 2, 4 or 8 mg PCBs/kg b.w./day), while groups treated with appropriate doses of single chemicals served as controls. At the end of experiment following parameters were estimated: relative liver weight, Cd and PCBs levels in liver and albumine content and activity of hepatic enzyme aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in serum. Relative liver weight was significantly higher in all groups treated treated with both Cd and PCBs. Furthermore, levels of both chemicals in liver were statistically higher than levels in groups treated with single chemicals indicating possible toxicokinetic interactions between these chemicals. Albumine content was significantly higher in all investigated co-exposed groups when compared to groups treated with PCBs only while the significance was obtained only for the highest doses of both chemicals when compared to Cd treated group. The activity of AST was significantly higher in all mixture treated groups when compared to controls. No toxicodinamic interactions between Cd and PCBs were observed for albumine and AST. Our study provides some insight into hepatotoxicity of Cd and PCBs mixtures and gives evidence that co-exposure to these chemicals can result in more profound hepatotoxicity than single chemicals can.