Comparative Nephroprotective Effects of Concomitant Administration of Ca, Mg and the Combination of Ca and Mg against Cd and Pb Co-intoxicated Rats

Abstract

This work studied the comparative nephroprotective effects of concomitant administration of calcium (Ca) alone, magnesium (Mg) alone and the combination of Ca and Mg against cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) co-intoxicated rats. Wistar rats were divided into five groups of four rats per group in metabolic cages. Group one was fed with tap water only; group two with the co-administration of Cd and Pb; group three with co-administration of Cd and Pb and concomitant addition of Mg; group four with co-administration of Cd and Pb and concomitant addition of Ca; while group five with co-administration of Cd and Pb and concomitant addition of Ca and Mg. All the groups fed and freely drank from the water meant for each group for a period of fourteen (14) days. The rats were humanely sacrificed under anaesthesia, sample of blood was obtained from each rat by decapitation. Serum was obtained by centrifugation of clotted blood for kidney biomarkers determination, while the kidney was identified and fixed in 10% formal saline for histopathological studies. Results show that kidney biomarkers were significantly different (p<0.05) between control and the groups treated with the combination of Cd+Pb and Cd+Pb+Mg, while there was no significant difference ((p>0.05) between control and the groups treated with Cd+Pb+Ca and Cd+Pb+Ca+Mg. The histochemistry also show that there was mild damage to the kidney integrity of the group treated with Cd+Pb+Mg and a marked damage to the group treated with Cd+Pb. Results suggest that Ca has a better hepatoprotective property than Mg and the two metals have synergistic effect in mitigating the nephrotoxicities induced by co-administration Cd and Pb in rats.