The Protective Effect of Melatonin against Lead Acetate toxicity

Abstract

The present study was designated to evaluate the protective effect of melatonin (MLT) against lead acetate (LA) toxicity through comet assay and histological studies. Male mice were used in this experiment; animals were divided into 6 groups of 4 animals each. First group received orally solvent (4% ethanol) and served as control and the other groups received orally MLT (10mg/kg b.wt) and/or 50, 100 mg/kg body weight of lead acetate for 21 days. Mice were scarified 24 hrs after the last treatment. The results indicated that MLT alone did not induce any significant changes in the DNA tail moment values of liver cells as compared with control. Also MLT showed normal histological picture of liver and kidney. In contrast, LA treated mice showed significant increases in the tail moment values of the liver cells. In addition, LA treated mice exhibited degenerated hepatocytes and portal inflammatory cell infiltrations. Also, the kidneys showed degenerated glomeruli, severe congestion and haemorrhages. Meanwhile, Co-administration of MLT with LA weakened the severity of DNA lesion in liver and the pathological changes in kidney and liver of LA treated mice. These results pointed out the protective effect of MLT against the toxicity of lead acetate.