Insight Paper on Barber Et Al.'s Lead Induced Alterations in Blood Cell Counts and Hemoglobin

7/28/2019 Insight Paper on Barber Et Al.'s Lead Induced Alterations in Blood Cell Counts and Hemoglobin

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Nathaniel Antonio 2010-62508 Submitted to: Prof. Liezel Magtoto [email protected] [email protected]

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Lead Induced Alterations in Blood Cell Counts and Hemoglobinduring Gestation and Lactation in Swiss Albino Mice

BARBER I., SHARMA *, R., MOGRA, S., PANWAR, K., and GARU, U.

* Environmental and Developmental Toxicology Research Lab, Department of Zoology,

M. L. S. University, Udaipur- 313001 Rajasthan (INDIA )

This study of Barber, Sharma, Mogra, Panwar, and Garu aimed to determine the level of

the lead intoxication among the Swiss albino mice during pregnancy and lactation. The changes

in Red Blood cells (RBC), hemoglobin (Hgb) and White Blood cells (WBC) during gestation

and lactation were also evaluated. In the methodology, random bred mice were closely observed

in a controlled environment in the lab. Recently mated sexually mature mice were isolated and

monitored. The pregnant mice were divided into 4 groups. One group is the control while the

three groups were each exposed to three different levels of dosages of lead acetate from the tenthday of gestation up to the 21 st day of lactation. The 1 st, 2nd and 3 rd group were exposed orally to

lead acetate with 266.66 mg/kg BW, 533.33 mg/kg BW and 1066.66 mg/kg BW, respectively.

The hemoglobin, RBS and WBS counts of the female Swiss mice were recorded on th 17 th day

of pregnancy and on the 1 st, 7 th, 14 th and 21 st days of lactation. The statistical analysis used was

analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the comparison of data between different experimental

groups. The result showed that the introduction of lead acetate during gestation and lactation

period of mice has caused significant decrease in the RBC and Hemoglobin of the mice as

compared to the control. On the other hand, the WBC count has decreased during gestation but

has increased during the lactation period. As a result, the researchers concluded that lead has

adverse effects on the hemoglobin and blood cell counts. Dose-dependent decrease in the RBC

and hemoglobin was observed in the lead acetate-exposed mice. In contrast, WBC count has

shown increase in number. Attached to this was the complete journal article by the authors.

The paper did not present any new discoveries since there were several preliminary and

similar researches (see references of the journal article) regarding the effects of lead exposure the

RBC, Hgb, and WBC counts. However, the result of the study paralleled with other studies, as

claimed by the authors, and did contribute to the strengthening of the results of the preliminary

studies. Moreover, the result was also significant because lead-induced haematological changes

are not well established.
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Several authors- Robinsons, Agnel, Paprika and Sharmas (See journal article references)

specified that the influence of toxic materials affects first the molecular before the biochemical

level. This is one of the bases of this study to assess the toxic effects of lead by studying the

peripheral blood i.e. the hemoglobin and red blood cells, as haematological parameters.

It was not thoroughly discussed in the article the reason of the decline of RBC during the

introduction of the lead acetate nonetheless, one explanations presented by the authors is that the

lead causes damage to the cell membrane making it fragile. To further reiterate this explanation,

when lead is absorbed in the blood stream, it binds with the hemoglobin in the erythrocytes. The

lead was then stored in the red blood cells because RBC serves as depository of the heavy metal

as discussed by Bnfalvi, 2011. This produces some disturbances in erythrocyte metabolism such

as NA, K-ATPase, deltaaminolevulinic acid dehydratase and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide

synthetase activity. This leads to the decreased hemoglobin synthese and decreased life-span of

erythrocytes.

Another explanation was that the lead administered caused decrease in hemoglobin

production that was coupled with increased erythrocyte destruction caused by the inhibition of

the pyrimidine 5-nucloetidase in the erythrocyte membrane stability and survival by alteration of

cellular energy. This often results to a hypochromic, normocytic anemia.

Lead is a highly toxic material that is abundant in the earths crust. It has a low cost and

has physical properties that are suitable in wide variety of usage. This indicates that many people

are prone to exposure in a daily basis. Recently, they just found out that cosmetic products

specially lipsticks have small amount of lead in them. Many kids toys were also found out to

have lead in them, especially those that were cheap. This shows that people are exposed to lead

without them knowing.

One of the main purposes of this study as stated in the summary was to assess the effect

of lead, which is a heavy metal to the cellular components of blood, RBC, Hgb, and RBC. The

conclusion was relevant because it offers further studies on the effects of other heavy metals.

Such possible further studies that can be considered is the phenomenon of mine tailing spills.

The Philex Mining Corporation, located in Benguet Province, is operating one of the


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largest mines in the country, the Pacdal Mine. The mining corp has been digging the earths crust

for copper and gold since 1958. Recently, there was a leakage of the mines tailings in Balog

creek that caused the creek and its river system to be biologically dead. There were no signs of

any form of life in the river, said Feny Cosico, agriculturalist and spokesperson for Samahan ng

Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya Para sa Sambayanan (Agham). According to her, high

concentrations of toxic substances were found there including heavy metals and flotation

reagents that are toxic to plants and animals.

This phenomenon did not only affect the ecology of the area where the mine sediments

are leaked but might have also affected the biotic and abiotic components in the downstream.

This study therefore can be tested in the affected area to assess if the same procedure is

applicable in the same situation. If the result is positive, then the methodology can be used toassess the extent of damage of the spilling incident. It can be further tested on humans if there

were gestating or lactating mothers in the area or near it. However, this doesnt implicate that

this can replace standard procedures in heavy metal intoxication tests.

In the analysis, the authors should have included an appendix of the raw data that were

gathered. Since it is a scientific experiment, readers that have foundational knowledge of

statistics might actually re-analyse the data to check the validity of the statistical claims of the

authors.

They should also have increased the number of individual mice that they studied. Six

samples per group are just enough but a larger sample would be better because it should

theoretically yield a more accurate conclusion of the group being samples. Smaller samples

usually have higher chances to commit errors in representing a group. If one group is not

correctly represented, then the conclusion of the study will also be incorrect.

Conclusively, my last recommendation is for further studies to use the result of this studyas background information for the evaluation of reproductive toxicity induced by lead during

gestation and lactation. Moreover, since the sample organisms were studied during their lactation

and gestation period, other similar studies might as well include the babies in studying the

haematological effects of the lead exposure.


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Insight Paper on Barber Et Al.'s Lead Induced Alterations in Blood Cell Counts and Hemoglobin