Study on Prevention of Induced Arsenic Toxicity in Rats by using Spirulina and Thankuni

The prophyalactic contributions of spirulina and thankuni on rats experimentally induced with arsenic toxicity were tested and the comparative efficacies of both spirulina and thankuni were determined. Sixty apparently healthy rats were received, divided into 5 groups (T0 for control, T1 for arsenic treated group, T2 for arsenic plus spirulina treated group, T3 for arsenic plus thankuni treated group and T4 for arsenic plus spirulina and thankuni treated group) and each group consisted of 12 rats for the experimentation. Rats of T0 group were given normal feed and water and kept as control. Rats of T1, T2, T3 and T4 were treated with 4 mg Sodium arsenite (NaAs2O2)/kg body weight daily orally for 63 days. In addition to sodium arsenite rats of group T2, T4 were simultaneously fed with Spirulina @ 1 gm/kg feed; and T3 and T4 were simultaneously feed with thankuni @ 400mg /kg body weight up to 63 days respectively. Four rats from each group (T0, T1, T2, T3 and T4) were sacrificed at 21 days interval in order to determine biochemical and haematological parameters. Result showed that no visible clinical signs were observed in any groups of experimental rats. Here, sodium arsenite feeding caused arsenic burden in rats but Spirulina and thankuni significantly (p<0.01) lowered the arsenic burden of rats whereas spirulina is more effective than thankuni against arsenic burden in rats. Finally it is concluded that the combination of spirulina and thankuni were found more effective in prevention of arsenic burden in rat.