SERUM AND LIVER TISSUE HYDROCARBONS SERUM AND LIVER TISSUE HYDROCARBONS CONTENTSCONTENTS OF MALE RATS ORALLY EXPOSED OF MALE RATS ORALLY EXPOSED

TO BONNY LIGHT CRUDE OIL.TO BONNY LIGHT CRUDE OIL.

PRESENTED BYPRESENTED BY

SAVIOUR U. UFOT,SAVIOUR U. UFOT, Ph.D MBA Ph.D MBA

BIOCHEMISTRY DEPARTMENTBIOCHEMISTRY DEPARTMENTFACULTY OF BASIC MEDICAL SCIENCESFACULTY OF BASIC MEDICAL SCIENCES

UNIVERSITY OF CALABARUNIVERSITY OF CALABARCALABAR - NIGERIACALABAR - NIGERIA

E-mail: sufot2001@yahoo.com E-mail: sufot2001@yahoo.com

INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION::

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are

among the hydrocarbons constituents in

crude oil with most dangerous

environmental contaminants (Adeyemi et

al., 2008, 2009). Exploration and

exploitation of crude oil have caused several

environmental problems arising from

spillage of the oil and flaring of gas.

INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION::

Georgewill (2012) reported that large volumes

of crude oil are spilled annually into the Niger

delta creeks, thereby polluting the soil and

water within the environment. The adverse

effects caused by oil spillage on humans and

other organisms within the affected area(s)

may be attributed to the consumption of oil

polluted water, contaminated agricultural

produce and sea foods.

It has been reported that some Traditional

Medicine Practioners in Nigeria claimed that

crude oil has an analgesic effect that is

comparable to the analgesic effect of aspirin

(Orisakwe et al., 2000). Literature report

indicates that crude oil may provide remedy for

different types of ailments, including disorders of

the gastrointestinal tract, certain types of burns,

ulcers of the leg, “foot rots” as well as antidote

for poisoning; and that it has the ability to drive

away witchcraft (Dienye et al., 2012).

Direct exposure to crude oil has been

reported to have an adverse effect on some

biochemical and haematological properties in

experimental animals. According to Dienye

et al. (2012), exposure to crude oil produces

a variety of complications in different organs,

including liver, lungs, kidneys and the skin.

Introduction Cont’d

It has been reported that several petroleum

and petroleum products induced toxicity

effects are attributed to hydrocarbon

constituents of these products (Orisakwe et

al., 2000; Uboh et al 2012). However, there is

scarcity of information on the specific

hydrocarbon constituents of Nigerian Bonny

Light crude oil accumulated in the blood

following oral exposures.

The study aimed at assessing the types and

concentration of hydrocarbons accumulated

in the serum and liver tissues of male rats

orally exposed to bonny light crude oil.

MATERIALS AND MATERIALS AND METHODS:METHODS:

Animal Handling and Treatment: Twenty male albino Wistar rats (180–200g) were used in this study. The rats were distributed into two groups (control and test groups), with ten rats each. The test animals were orally gavaged 60mg/kg bwt of Bonny Light Crude oil (BLCO), once daily for twenty eight days, while the control animals were given distilled water.

MATERIALS AND MATERIALS AND METHODS:METHODS:The animals, housed in plastic cages with metallic top, were kept under the prevailing normal room temperature and humidity, and a 12-h light/dark cycle. . The animals were allowed free access to standard laboratory animal pellets (Guinea Feeds, Benin, Nigeria) and water ad libitum.

MATERIALS AND MATERIALS AND METHODS:METHODS:

The BLCO used in this study was obtained from the NNPC/TOTAL/SHELL Joint venture in Port Harcourt through procedural authorization from the Department of Petroleum Resources Zonal Office, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Animals handling and treatments in this study followed the guidelines of the Institution’s Animal Handling Ethical Committee. All the chemicals used were of analytical grade.

After twenty-four hours from the last exposure, the animals in both groups were sacrificed under chloroform anaesthesia, blood and liver tissues collected for analyses. The whole blood samples were collected by cardiac puncture, allowed to clot, and serum separated after centrifugation.

The serum and digested liver tissue samples were extracted and analysed for hydrocarbon types and concentrations . using Gas Chromatographic (GC) – Mass Spectrometry (MS) techniques as described by Tunsaringkarn et al. (2004)

Data Analysis:

Data generated from this research work were

reported as the mean values and standard

deviations. The data were further computed and

analyzed using one way “ANOVA” and unpaired

“Student’s t-test”. The data were analyzed with

the help of a statistical package, SPSS version

18.0 for Windows, and considered significant at

p<0.05.

Group

Treatment

Number of Rats

Males

1 Distilled Water (control) 10

2 60mg/kg body weight of crude oil 10

TABLE 1

Distribution and treatment of animals in the respective groups

RESULTS: RESULTS:

RESULT & DISCUSION:RESULT & DISCUSION:

The results showed that benzene, toluene, ethylmethylene, xylene, BTEX, pyrene, naphthalene and total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in the serum and liver tissues of rats exposed to BLCO were significantly (p<0.05) higher, compared to respectively with the concentrations in the serum and liver tissues of control rats. However, there was no significant difference (p<0.05) between the serum and liver concentrations of these hydrocarbons in both the control and test animals.

The reports of ATSDR (1990, 1991) and Ritchie

et al. (2001) demonstrated that benzene,

toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) are

among the major aromatic hydrocarbon

constituents of most petroleum products,

including gasoline. NIOSH (1990), ATSDR

(2007), Weisel (2010) and McHale et al. (2012)

reported that most of these hydrocarbons are

biotransformed into reactive metabolites by

hepatic tissues metabolizing system.

Also, Schaumburg and Spencer (1978) earlier

reported that the aliphatic and aromatic

hydrocarbons which are the major constituents

of petroleum products are metabolized in the

liver tissue. Several tissue toxicities have been

reported for petroleum polycyclic aromatic

hydrocarbons in humans and experimental

animals (Otitoloju and Olagoke, 2011; King et

al., 2012; Osuala, 2012).

The results of this study indicate that these

hydrocarbons, on absorption within the GIT,

are relatively distributed equally within the

serum and liver tissues. The results also

suggest that the hydrocarbons, and/or their

metabolites, are implicated in the different

tissue toxicity effects reported for petroleum

and petroleum products in humans and

experimental animals.

Appreciation.Appreciation.

To OMICS Organising Committee for the

opportunity to present the result of my

studies.

To Associate Professor Dr. F. E. UBOH,

Professors Patrick E. Ebong and Eyong U.

Eyong for their guidance and support during

the course of the study.

THANK THANK YOU YOU