ABSTRACT

Female Anopheles Mosquitoes causes malaria which is highly prevalent in Nigeria, and the need to get a cure for malaria led to the development of mosquito repellent. Blood is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's cells, such as nutrients and oxygen and transports waste products away from these same cells. Hence, the study was designed to investigate the effect of Raid Multipurpose Insect Killer; a mosquito repellent on some haematological indices in Adult Wistar rats. Thirty rats with mean weight of 146.1 ± 8.75g were used for this experiment. The animals were randomly assigned to six (6) groups with sample size of five (5) rats each. Wistar rats in group A served as the control; those in group B were directly exposed to insecticide (Raid Multipurpose Insect Killer) overnight; those in group C were indirectly exposed to insecticide; those in group D were exposed to insecticide overnight and supplemented with Liquid Vitamin C; those in group E were exercised daily and exposed to insecticide overnight and those in group F were supplemented with Liquid Vitamin C and exercise daily. At the end of the thirty-one days experimental period, the rats were sacrificed under chloroform anesthesia. Blood samples were collected by cardiac puncture into properly labelled, Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic (EDTA) sample bottles for haematological analysis using an automated hematological analyzer. The results, represented as mean values ± standard error of mean showed that there was a significant increase in White Blood Cells count in group D [(17.43 ± 0.89 (10³/µL)] and group F [(17.00 ± 1.86 (10³/µL)] compared to group A [(11.07 ± 1.89(10³/µL)] using one-way ANOVA at P<0.05. The results also showed that there was a significant increase in Red Blood Cells count in group F [(6.648 ± 0.07(10⁶/µL)] compared to group A [(6.323 ± 0.05(10⁶/µL)]; a significant increase in Lymphocytes count in group D [(13.83 ± 1.18(10³/µL)] compared to group A [(11.20 ± 0.06(10³/µL)]; a significant decrease in Haemoglobin count in group D [(13.03 ± 0.29(g/dL)] compared to group A [(14.23 ± 0.39(g/dL)], and a significant decrease in Hematocrit count in group D [(34.56 ± 0.49(%)] and group E [(34.65 ± 0.12(%)] compared to group A [(37.37 ± 1.16(%)]. In conclusion, exposure to Raid Multipurpose Insect Killer may alter haematological indices.