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Haemotoxic and Genotoxic Potential of Lead on the Egyptian Toad Amietophrynus regularis

Received: 14 October 2016     Accepted: 17 November 2016     Published: 17 December 2016
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Abstract

Many populations of amphibians are declining on all six continents on which they occur. The reason for the declines is a direct response to the habitat destruction and pollution including heavy metals. Heavy metals represent a major environmental problem of increasing concern. They are generally found at very low concentrations. They are difficult to remove from the environment and cannot be chemically or biologically degraded. Some heavy metals like lead seem to lack biological functions and extremely toxic even at low concentrations. This study was aimed to investigate the haemotoxic and genotoxic potential of lead using blood parameters, the frequencies of micronuclei, and nuclear lesions in erythrocytes of Egyptian Toad Amietophrynus regularis as biomarkers. The results of this work revealed that Pb was potentially accumulated in liver and muscles based on dose received. Toad exposed to the selected doses of lead produced dose – dependent significant increases in the concentration of lead in the liver and muscle, confirming the ability of Amietophrynus regularis to take up and accumulate heavy metals from their ambient habitat. The results of the present investigation showed that the lead treatment inflicted a drastic reduction in the means of RBCs, haemoglobin, and haematocrit values in addition to remarkable increase in WBCs, impairing the major blood parameters in this investigation. Correlation analysis has demonstrated a negative effect of Pb accumulation on RBCs count, haemoglobin, and haematocrit. Oppositely, Pb in muscles and liver exhibited a positive effect in WBCs count. In this study, higher incidences of micronuclei (MN) and nuclear lesions (NL) were found in the blood of toad exposed to lead doses. Such frequencies were significantly elevated with the increasing lead doses. A positive correlation was demonstrated between the investigated heavy metals in tissues and the induction of micronucleated RBCs and nuclear abnormalities in Amietophrynus regularis. The results of this study confirm the usefulness of the erythrocyte MN and NL as powerful monitoring tools for detecting genotoxic agents in aquatic and terrestrial environment.

Published in International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology (Volume 1, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijee.20160103.16
Page(s) 94-102
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Amietophrynus regularis, Lead, Biomarkers, Heavy Metals, Genotoxicity, Micronuclei, Nuclear Lesions

References
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    Rashad E. M. Said, Samy A. Saber, Alaa G. M. Osman. (2016). Haemotoxic and Genotoxic Potential of Lead on the Egyptian Toad Amietophrynus regularis. International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology, 1(3), 94-102. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijee.20160103.16

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    Rashad E. M. Said; Samy A. Saber; Alaa G. M. Osman. Haemotoxic and Genotoxic Potential of Lead on the Egyptian Toad Amietophrynus regularis. Int. J. Ecotoxicol. Ecobiol. 2016, 1(3), 94-102. doi: 10.11648/j.ijee.20160103.16

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    Rashad E. M. Said, Samy A. Saber, Alaa G. M. Osman. Haemotoxic and Genotoxic Potential of Lead on the Egyptian Toad Amietophrynus regularis. Int J Ecotoxicol Ecobiol. 2016;1(3):94-102. doi: 10.11648/j.ijee.20160103.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijee.20160103.16,
      author = {Rashad E. M. Said and Samy A. Saber and Alaa G. M. Osman},
      title = {Haemotoxic and Genotoxic Potential of Lead on the Egyptian Toad Amietophrynus regularis},
      journal = {International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology},
      volume = {1},
      number = {3},
      pages = {94-102},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijee.20160103.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijee.20160103.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijee.20160103.16},
      abstract = {Many populations of amphibians are declining on all six continents on which they occur. The reason for the declines is a direct response to the habitat destruction and pollution including heavy metals. Heavy metals represent a major environmental problem of increasing concern. They are generally found at very low concentrations. They are difficult to remove from the environment and cannot be chemically or biologically degraded. Some heavy metals like lead seem to lack biological functions and extremely toxic even at low concentrations. This study was aimed to investigate the haemotoxic and genotoxic potential of lead using blood parameters, the frequencies of micronuclei, and nuclear lesions in erythrocytes of Egyptian Toad Amietophrynus regularis as biomarkers. The results of this work revealed that Pb was potentially accumulated in liver and muscles based on dose received. Toad exposed to the selected doses of lead produced dose – dependent significant increases in the concentration of lead in the liver and muscle, confirming the ability of Amietophrynus regularis to take up and accumulate heavy metals from their ambient habitat. The results of the present investigation showed that the lead treatment inflicted a drastic reduction in the means of RBCs, haemoglobin, and haematocrit values in addition to remarkable increase in WBCs, impairing the major blood parameters in this investigation. Correlation analysis has demonstrated a negative effect of Pb accumulation on RBCs count, haemoglobin, and haematocrit. Oppositely, Pb in muscles and liver exhibited a positive effect in WBCs count. In this study, higher incidences of micronuclei (MN) and nuclear lesions (NL) were found in the blood of toad exposed to lead doses. Such frequencies were significantly elevated with the increasing lead doses. A positive correlation was demonstrated between the investigated heavy metals in tissues and the induction of micronucleated RBCs and nuclear abnormalities in Amietophrynus regularis. The results of this study confirm the usefulness of the erythrocyte MN and NL as powerful monitoring tools for detecting genotoxic agents in aquatic and terrestrial environment.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Haemotoxic and Genotoxic Potential of Lead on the Egyptian Toad Amietophrynus regularis
    AU  - Rashad E. M. Said
    AU  - Samy A. Saber
    AU  - Alaa G. M. Osman
    Y1  - 2016/12/17
    PY  - 2016
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijee.20160103.16
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijee.20160103.16
    T2  - International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology
    JF  - International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology
    JO  - International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology
    SP  - 94
    EP  - 102
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-1735
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijee.20160103.16
    AB  - Many populations of amphibians are declining on all six continents on which they occur. The reason for the declines is a direct response to the habitat destruction and pollution including heavy metals. Heavy metals represent a major environmental problem of increasing concern. They are generally found at very low concentrations. They are difficult to remove from the environment and cannot be chemically or biologically degraded. Some heavy metals like lead seem to lack biological functions and extremely toxic even at low concentrations. This study was aimed to investigate the haemotoxic and genotoxic potential of lead using blood parameters, the frequencies of micronuclei, and nuclear lesions in erythrocytes of Egyptian Toad Amietophrynus regularis as biomarkers. The results of this work revealed that Pb was potentially accumulated in liver and muscles based on dose received. Toad exposed to the selected doses of lead produced dose – dependent significant increases in the concentration of lead in the liver and muscle, confirming the ability of Amietophrynus regularis to take up and accumulate heavy metals from their ambient habitat. The results of the present investigation showed that the lead treatment inflicted a drastic reduction in the means of RBCs, haemoglobin, and haematocrit values in addition to remarkable increase in WBCs, impairing the major blood parameters in this investigation. Correlation analysis has demonstrated a negative effect of Pb accumulation on RBCs count, haemoglobin, and haematocrit. Oppositely, Pb in muscles and liver exhibited a positive effect in WBCs count. In this study, higher incidences of micronuclei (MN) and nuclear lesions (NL) were found in the blood of toad exposed to lead doses. Such frequencies were significantly elevated with the increasing lead doses. A positive correlation was demonstrated between the investigated heavy metals in tissues and the induction of micronucleated RBCs and nuclear abnormalities in Amietophrynus regularis. The results of this study confirm the usefulness of the erythrocyte MN and NL as powerful monitoring tools for detecting genotoxic agents in aquatic and terrestrial environment.
    VL  - 1
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt

  • Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

  • Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt

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