ABSTRACT
Lead is a widespread environmental and industrial pollutant which is used in food preservation, cosmetics, pharmaceutical companies and laboratories. Despite many efforts to minimize lead poisoning, it continues to be a major health concern in many developing and developed countries.The present study was aimed at evaluating the effects of aqueous garlic extract on lead induced changes on the hippocampus and cerebellum of Wistar rats.Forty fiveWistar rats (both sexes) were used in the study and were randomly divided into nine groups with five rats in each group. The rats in Group one (G1) served as the Control and received distilled water. The rats in Groups 2 and 3 received lead only at low (60 mg/kg) and high (120 mg/kg) respectively. The rats in Group 4 (G4) received lead at low dose (60 mg/kg) and aqueous garlic extract at low dose (300 mg/kg) while the rats in Group 5 (G5) received lead at high dose (120 mg/kg) and aqueous garlic extract at low dose (300 mg/kg). The rats in Group 6 (G6) received lead at low dose (60 mg/kg) and aqueous garlic extract at high dose (500 mg/kg) while the rats in Group 7 (G7) received lead at high dose (120 mg/kg) and aqueous garlic extract at high dose (500mg/kg). The rats in Group 8 (G8) received lead at low dose (60 mg/kg) and Succimer (DMSA) at 30mg/kg b w while the rats in Group 9 (G9) received lead at high dose (120 mg/kg) and Succimer (DMSA) at 30mg/kg. All the administration were carried out orally for twenty one (21) days. The rats were trained for both spartial learning and memory and beam walking before the administration and tests performed after the administration. At the end of the administration, rats were sacrificed and histological specimens of the cerebellum and hippocampus of the rats across the groups were prepared using the routine haematoxyline and eosin and cresyl violet staining 18 techniques.Sections of the lead treated groups revealed that lead produced deleterious effects on tissues of thehippocampal formation and cerebellum, disrupting the general histoarchitecture and cellular integrity while sections of lead and aqueous garlic extract administration revealed that aqueous garlic extract had promising positive effects on lead induced changes on the histological changes of the hippocampus and cerebellum. The result of Morris water maze and beam walking test showed that the rats in lead acetate treated Group experienced an increase in the meantime taken to complete task which when compared with the rats in Group one (Control) was found to be statistically significant (P?0.01), while the rats in the lead and aqueous garlic extract or Succimer (DMSA) treated Groups experienced a marked decrease in the meantime taken to complete task which when compared with the rats in Group one (Control) was found to be non-significant (P?0.05). The result of oxidative stress analyses of lead treated Groups rats showed decrease of superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione activities and increased level of malondialdehyde while there was increased superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione activities and decreased malondialdehyde levels in the aqueous garlic extract Groups. On the basis of the present study, it can be concluded that the promising potentials of aqueous garlic extracton lead induced toxicity were considered and it was found to be a good candidate for the therapeutic intervention of lead poisoning.