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ABSTRACT
Lead Acetate Pb(C2H3O2)2 is a white crystalline compound with a sweet taste. It is known as “sugar of lead” and it is one of the most bioavailable forms of lead. Lead is one of the first known metals from ancient Greek and Roman times due to its toxic nature (Ahmad et al., 2003). Acute exposure to lead by children, adults and pregnant women results in a spike in blood lead level. It is highly toxic and even a small amount of lead in the blood is detrimental. Hence in 2021, CDC lowered the blood lead reference value from 5 to 3.5 μg/dL. This research was aimed at investigating and histologically assessing the development of the fetal heart following intrauterine exposure to Lead Acetate in Wistar rats. Thirty-two (32) females, adult Wistar rats weighing between 160 and 170 grams were procured for this study. The rats were divided into two groups (A and B) of sixteen rats each. Groups A and B were further subdivided into four subgroups (A1 – A4, and B1 - B4) and each subgroup contained four rats per group. Group A served as the control group and was administered lab-prepared distilled water and 0.2ml of normal saline injected intraperitoneally and fed for ninety days. Group B was administered with a single intraperitoneal dose of Lead Acetate 2.5mg/100g of body weight on gestation day 8, (GD 8). Pregnancy was established in the animals with regular cyclicity by pairing them overnight with sexually active males in the ratio 2:1. Successful mating was confirmed by the presence of vaginal plug and or sperm in the vaginal smear the following morning between 9:00 and 10:00 hours. The day the sperm cells were found in the vaginal smear was considered as gestational day 0 of pregnancy. Four dams from each group were sampled on gestational days 15, 17, 19, and 21. Their hearts were then harvested for histological studies. Lead acetate exposure to the pregnant rats induced a significant degeneration of the developing ventricular walls and myocardial tissue. The thickness and histomorphology of the atrioventricular septum and trabeculations were also depreciated leading to impaired nodal conduction in the myocardium and reduced muscular contractions which in turn led to low pumping action of the heart. This study showed that lead acetate is highly toxic and exerts deleterious effects on the heart of fetal Wistar rats by inducing myocardial infarction, oxidative stress, necrosis, and apoptosis.
