Biochemical and Histological Profiling of Heart of Wistar Rat Concurrently Administered with Alcohol, Cadmium and Magnesium

Author(s): Chidi J. OGHAM, Jonathan D. DABAK, Kiri. H. JARYUM

There was a health challenge in our study area with no known etiology as result of the consumption of well waters which affected mostly alcoholics. A chronic and complex interplay of cardiovascular disease symptoms which occasionally leads to mortality were witnessed. Water quality assessment in the area, indicated that it is contaminated with cadmium and had high magnesium content. The aim of this work, therefore, was to mimic the co-administration of cadmium and magnesium with graded concentrations of alcohol using a rat model to assess their effects in the heart, in order to give a plausible explanation that could be the cause of this health challenges. To achieve this aim, rats were randomly divided into eight groups of 4 rats per group in cages. Group 1 served as normal control and fed with animal Feed and Water only. Group 2 was treated with feed and 6% Alcohol only (Test control). Group 3 to 8 were treated with the combination of cadmium and magnesium and graded concentrations of alcohol (from 1-6%)(aq). Treatments were done for a period of 21 days, after which the rats were humanely sacrificed, serum was obtained after centrifugation and frozen (-20oC) for cardiac panel analysis and the heart were harvested and preserved in 10% formalin for histopathological examinations. The results revealed that at alcohol concentration above 4%, various degree of cardiac injuries was induced. This suggest that alcoholics have higher risk of cardiovascular diseases caused by cadmium toxicity in areas where the water source is polluted with cadmium as it is the case with our study area.