Hemato-biochemical, Behavioral and Neurological effects of Vitamin C administration against lead exposure in mice

Lead (Pb) is widely used in industry and has a great environmental health problem of both human and animal. Effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation have been postulated to be major contributors to lead-exposure related disease. Therefore, the present experiment was carried out to determine the effectiveness of vitamin C in alleviating the toxicity of lead on certain behavioral, hemato-biochemical parameters and antioxidant status in brain of mice. Ten mice (20-25gm) per group were assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups for 3 months: Group 1 served as control; Group 2 received lead acetate (50 mg/kg) orally; Group 3 received lead acetate with vitamin C (100 mg/l) in drinking water. Evaluations were made for hemato-biochemical, behavioral parameters and lipid peroxidation in brain tissue. Results obtained showed that lead acetate intoxication reduced hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit value and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. Furthermore, it increased serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase; increased brain malondaldehyde level and decreased brain superoxide activities. Also, lead (pb) exposure resulted in increased anxiety and fear related behavior in both elevated plus maze and light dark box tests, impaired learning ability and memories, increased aggression and reduced body weight and weight gain. However, vitamin C kept the studied hematological and biochemical parameters within normal ranges. In addition, it prevented lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress induced by lead intoxication. Vit C administration also, resulted in reduced anxiety and aggression and improved learning ability and memories, body weight and weight gain to the level of control animals. Therefore, these results indicated that vitamin C ameliorating the toxic effects of lead and it appeared to be a promising protective agent against lead-induced toxicity.