WOFAPS 2025 8th World Congress of Pediatric Surgery

Dare Olulana ¹, G. Sanni ¹, kelvin Egbuchulem ²

¹ University of Ibadan
² University College Hospital Ibadan

Purpose: Abdominal pain, vomiting, colic, bloating, and delay in gastric emptying have been reported to be the gastrointestinal manifestation of lead (Pb) toxicity.1 In this study, we examined the histological and histomorphometric changes seen in the stomach, following oral administration of Pb acetate to male Wistar rats.
Method: 16 male albino Wistar rats were obtained acclimatized for a week in ventilated cages and allowed free access to food and water ad libitum. They were randomly divided into two groups to receive either additional distilled water or lead acetate in their drinking water at 5,000 part per million for eight weeks. At the expiration of Pb treatment, the animals were euthanized and the stomach harvested, processed, and stained using Hematoxylin and Eosin, and periodic acid Schiff stains. The stained sections were examined with a light microscope.
Students’ T-tests was used to compare oral Pb exposure and non-exposure versus the means of the number of surface mucous cells in the two groups.
Results: Histological findings in Pb treated rats showed focal area of degeneration of the mucosa layer, denudation of surface epithelium, vacoulation of the gastric glands, infiltration of inflammatory cells, and severe reduction in the thickness of the surface mucin layer. The mucous cells count was significantly reduced from 12.61 ± 1.242 in the control rats to
5.00 ± 0.535 in Pb treated rats (p<0.001).
Conclusion: This study in Wistar rats shows that long term exposure to Pb induces gastric damages by interfering with the oxidative metabolism in the stomach.

REFERENCES
Adeleye, GS, Oseni, OA, Odesanmi, O, Ajayi, AO, Olaleye, BS. Delayed healing of mucosal injury in the colon of lead-exposed Wister rats: A Biochemical and histological study. Anat Physiol. 2018; 8: 299.