ABSTRACT

Lead (Pb) is an abundant and one of the most lethal metals found in the earth’s crust. Its use by humans dates back to thousands of year. Even the low doses of lead are responsible for the production of reactive oxygen species which leads to oxidative load. This oxidative stress mitigates production of malondialdehyde (MDA) and down regulates antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD).

Study Design: Quasi experimental Study.

Place and duration of study: Department of Biochemistry, ANMCH, Islamabad, Pakistan in collaboration with NIH, Islamabad from November, 2018 to April, 2019.

Methodology: A total of 40 BALB/c mice were divided into two groups of 20 mice each. Group I was given normal standard diet. Group II was given lead acetate in drinking water with normal diet without any supplementation. Levels of malondialdehyde were measured by using Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) was estimated by xanthine oxidase method at the end of study.

Results: The results of our study showed increase in MDA and decrease in SOD in lead treated group when compared with the control group. Pearson correlation was applied to assess the degree of association between two parameters, it showed significant negative correlation with value of r = -0.96 and p-value of 0.001

Conclusion: It was concluded from our study that increase in MDA leads to decrease in SOD indicating  strong negative correlation in lead poisoned mice.