The Effect Of Nicotine Toxicity On The Heart Of Adult Male Albino Rat With Special Reference to The protective Role Of Vitamins A, C and E Histological and Histochemical Study

Abstract

Nicotine is a highly toxic alkaloid that is linked to a variety of serious diseases. The aim of this study is to -investigate the effect of nicotine on the heart of adult male albino rats, with special references to the protective roles of vitamins A, E and C. This study was conducted on thirty adult male albino rats they were divided into 5 groups, 6 animals each. A part from the control group, group II received nicotine orally at a dose of 20mg I kg /day, group Ill received nicotine plus vitamin A at a dose 5000 l.u. /kg /day, group IV received nicotine plus vitamin E at a dose 600 mg /kg I day, group V received nicotine plus vitamin C at a dose 2gm /kg /day. The duration of the experiment was 4 weeks equal for all groups. Evaluation of this work was performed using different histological and histochemical techniques including, routine haematoxylin and eosin, iron haematoxylin, Masson's trichrome stain, PAS stain, Nachla's technique and semithin sections for group I, II and IV. Affection of the cardiac muscle fibres and coronary blood vessels was observed in group II. Mild improvement was observed in group Ill, while marked improvement was observed in both group IV and V. Vitamin E showed better protection than vitamin C. Finally we concluded that, normal levels of vitamins C and E are not enough for protection of smokers from hazards of nicotine on the wall of the heart and so smokers must receive supplementary doses of these vitamins.