Noor-Ul-Ain, MPhil(Zoology) 2016-2018 Supervised by Dr.Shagufta Andleeb
Study of Developmental Defects Induced by Arsenic and its Amelioration by Garlic
/Noor-Ul-Ain
- Lahore : Department of Zoology, Div. S&T University of Education, 2018
- 102 p. xviii CD
Arsenic is a well-known metallic pollutant in groundwater from several millennia. It shows various toxic effects on wide range of organisms including human beings. Toxic effects of arsenic ranges from cancers, nerve damage, teratogenicity and miscarriages. Aims of current work were to detect several developmental anomalies of a sub lethal dose of sodium arsenate and defensive part of garlic (as antidote) in reducing the strengths of these lethality. To study the toxic effects of sodium arsenate, chick embryo were used and for this purpose fertilized eggs of Gallus domesticus were randomly divided into four groups. On 7th day of incubation at ±37ºC, group (I) was kept untreated (control), while group (II) was injected with 0.05ml of a sub lethal dose of sodium arsenate in albumin. In group (III), 0.05ml of sub lethal dose of sodium arsenate was injected along with 0.05ml of garlic juice as an antidote with a gap of 2 minutes. Group (IV) was injected only with 0.05ml of antidote. The embryos were recovered on 21st day of incubation. Following recovery, embryos were fixed in Bouin’s fluid and further processed for morphological, morphometric and histological studies. Exposure to sodium arsenate induced different developmental abnormalities such as reduction in embryo viability, reduced body weight, crown rump length, head circumference, eye circumference, fore limb length and reduced hind limb length, omphalocele, swollen digits, micrognathia and various other histological disruptions such as severe congestion, sinusoidal dilation and pyknosis in liver. The histological disruptions were partially ameliorated by garlic treatment. The findings of this study clearly indicatesthat arsenic is potentially toxic to developing chicks, especially the liver is adversely affected; however these toxicities can be reduced by garlic. Keywords: sodium arsenate, Allium sativum, garlic, embryotoxicity,