Effect of Graded Concentrations of Ca on Nephrotic Cells of Cd and Pb Co-Intoxicated Rats

Abstract

This work aimed at determining the effect of co-administration of graded concentrations of Ca on Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ions urinary excretion and kidney histochemistry of Cd and Pb co-intoxicated rats. Rats were divided into five groups of four rats per group in metabolic cages. Group one was fed with tap water only, group two was fed with the combination of 0.327mg/L Pb and 0.079 mg/L Cd, while group three to five were fed with the combination of 0.327mg/L Pb and 0.079 mg/L Cd concurrently with graded concentrations of Ca. A twenty-four hour (24h) urine sample from the rats in their respective groups, in the urine collector of the metabolic cages, were collected daily for fourteen days and kept frozen. After the termination of the experiments, the rats were humanely sacrificed under anaesthesia, the kidney was identified and fixed in 10% formal saline for histopathological studies. Results show that urinary excretion of Cd and Pb increased as the concentrations of Ca was elevated, while there was significant difference (P < .05) in the urinary excretion of Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ of all the groups as compared with control and test control respectively. The histochemistry show that as the concentration of Ca was increased, the damage observed in group 2 was ameliorated. Results suggest that Ca could mitigate the nephrotoxicities induced by Cd and Pb in rats.