Effect of vitamin C and quercetin treatment on the liver histopathologic profile in congenital lead exposed male rat pups

Introduction: Lead is one of the most important environmental pollutants due to its vast use in various industries. Lead accumulation in different organs, especially the brain, liver and kidneys can cause serious health problems. Lead exposure is more dangerous during fetal period and childhood. Materials and Methods: Timed pregnant female rats divided into 6 groups. Group 1served as control group and received tap water, group 2 received 500 mg/liter lead acetate in the drinking water from 5th day of gestation up to 25th day post-partum, group 3 received the same dose of lead acetate along with daily IP injection of 40mg/kg quercetin, Group 4 received the same dose of lead acetate along with 2g/liter vitamin C, groups 5 and 6 received vitamin C and quercetin respectively like groups 2 and 3 but without lead acetate. On the 25th day postpartum, 6 male pups in each group were deeply anesthetized by chloroform livers were removed and processed for Hematoxyline- Eosin staining. The microscopic slides were photographed and liver tissue morphological characteristics were evaluated. Results: Lead exposure caused extensive histopathologic changes in liver tissue including hepatocyte degradation, cell nucleus bifurcation and inflammation around hepatic veins. Quercetin and vitamin C treatment could prevent these pathologic changes to a considerable extent. Conclusion: Vitamin C in drinking water and quercetin via IP injection could protect the liver tissue against lead hepatotoxic effects.