ISSN 2375-1266
African Journal of Environmental and Waste Management ISSN 2375-1266 Vol. 12 (3), pp. 001-006, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Toxic Effects of Copper on Hematopoietic Progenitors and Circulating Blood Cells in Rats
Azza A. El-Masry
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Egypt
E-mail: [email protected]
Accepted 03 September, 2024
This research was carried out to test the cytotoxic effects of copper in rats. Animals were divided into three groups, 5 animals each. Low dose of (2mg /kg) and high dose (4mg/kg) of copper sulphate were force-fed into the animal by a stomach tube daily for 3 weeks and the third group was used as control. At the end of each week three animals (one of each group) were randomly selected and sacrificed. Blood was collected and blood smears were made. The bone marrow was collected from the heads of long-bones and bone marrow smears were also prepared. It has been found that application of copper sulphate doses modulates the proliferation and differentiation of stem cell progenitors and erythrocytes. Several alterations were observed; they were time - and dose -dependent. Of these alterations predominant existence of giant proerythroblasts and promyeloblasts, marked increase of adipose cells, degeneration of proerthroblasts among the bone marrow cells. The most damage criteria in the blood erythrocytes were hypochromia, anisocytosis, fragmentation and burr-shaped erythrocytes. These observations suggest the cytotoxic effect of copper and that it is a modulatory factor of stem cell progenitors and blood erythrocytes.
Keywords: Copper toxicity- bone marrow- progenitors - Blood- Rats.