Assessment Of The Effect Of Post-Natal Lead Exposure On The Hippocampus Of Developing Wistar Rats

📄 Project Abstract

Lead (Pb) is a highly toxic heavy metals found in every facet of environmental and biological systems. Evidence suggests that most of lead's effects on a child's central nervous system are irreversible. In this study we examined the effect of post-natal lead exposure on the hippocampus of developing Wistar rat. Nine Pregnant rats were randomly distributed into three experimental groups of three rats each, consisting of a control group (1) and experimental groups (2 and 3). After parturition, dams in Group 2 were administered 60mg/kg body weight (bwt) of lead acetate and Group 3 were administered 90mg/kg bwt of lead acetate. The pups of the dams in the experimental groups (2 and 3) were exposed to lead acetate via lactation from dams' that were administered lead (Pb) acetate via oral gavage from post-natal day (PND) 1 - PND 21.The control group (1) was given distilled water (2ml/kg bwt) throughout the experimental period. On PND 22, the pups were weighed and sacrificed after anaesthesia...