Oxidative stress in the blood of pregnant rats and reduction of organ weights caused by the polychlorinated biphenyl congener 77

Abstract

3,3′,4,4′-Tetrachlorobiphenyl (PCB 77), one of the environmentally persistent polychlorinated biphenyls that have been used for industrial purposes, was repeatedly administered to pregnant rats by gavage at a dose of minimal, non-lethal toxicity in order to study its effects on routine blood variables, parameters of oxidative stress and hematopoietic organs in pregnant female rats. Of the routine blood parameters, PCB 77 reduced the mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration and platelet counts; the levels of malondialdehyde and glutathione peroxidase in the blood were higher during the first days of gestation (1–7), as compared to the respective controls. In the subsequent period between days 8 and 18, these parameters did not show any significant change after PCB 77 treatment. Routine blood parameters and oxidative stress parameters indicated a moderate degree of oxidative stress which alone could not bring about the serious weight reduction of the thymus, pituitary, and kidneys. The extent of oxidative stress did not correlate with the weight reduction of some of the blood-forming organs.

Keywords:

• PCB 77
• oxidative stress
• toxicology of red blood cells
• blood parameters
• organ weights

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to those without whom this research study would not have been possible, especially to Gyula Dura, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health (NIEH), Budapest, and Mária Iván, co-worker of the Animal House of the Toxicological Department, NIEH, Budapest, as well as to Mrs. Lászlóné Ribiczey at the Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent István University.