Journal of Environmental Biology

Impact of different doses of lead on internal organs of quails

Vandana Mehrotra*¹, V.L. Saxena² and A.K. Saxena³

¹Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur - 208 016, India

²Department of Zoology, D.G. College, Kanpur - 208 002, India

³D.A.V. College, Kanpur - 208 002, India

(Received: September 09, 2006; Revised received: March 08, 2007; Re-revised received: September 05, 2007; Accepted: September 25, 2007)

Abstract: Lead (Pb) is the most ancient poison known to man. In the present study, amount of accumulation of Pb in liver, kidney, ovary and testes of rain quail was studied using different doses of lead. Spectrophotometric analysis of heavy metal treated organs was carried out to determine the amount of metal accumulation in these organs. LD₅₀ value was 4 ppm. Dose of lead was given in three ranges of low, medium and high. It was observed that testes (<6.8?10^-6) mgkg^-1day ^-1 and ovary (<7.5?10^{- 6}) mgkg^-1day ^-1, accumulated low amount from different doses when given continuously for 21 days. In contrast to this, liver (<9.2?10^-6) mgkg^-1day ^-1 and kidney (<9.3?10^-6) mgkg^-1day ^-1 accumulated the maximum amount of metal when treated for the same number of days. This study is quite unique and astonishing as the period for intoxication is short (21 days) as compared to the long ones (91 days and above). Our results show that generally metal accumulation is highest in liver, while it is low in gonad.

Key words:Toxicity, Lead poisoning, Toxication symptoms, quails

 

PDF of full length paper is available with author (vandanam@iitk.ac.in)

 

Copyright ? 2008 Triveni Enterprises. All rights reserved. No part of the Journal can be reproduced in any form without prior permission. Responsibility regarding the authenticity of the data, and the acceptability of the conclusions enforced or derived, rest with the author.