Investigation of temporal changes in the uptake of heavy metals in strawberries by different organs of rat

In recent years, heavy metal pollution has been shown as a significant environmental issue for human societies. This pollution is caused by industrial and agricultural activities that enter the food chain through different cycles. In this regard, this study aimed to investigate the accumulation and distribution of heavy metals at different times in different organs of rats that were under different nutritional conditions. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with hydroponic strawberry treatments in three replications. Also, different groups of rat (three groups of negative control, polluted and positive control) were fed with strawberries polluted by heavy metals by oral gavage for one, two and three months, every day. The amount of heavy metals in different organs was measured at each stage. 27 rats were studied in this study. Heavy metals decreased the rate of weight gain of rats. Accumulation of these metals was higher in kidney, liver and pancreas than other organs. The brain revealed the lowest accumulation of cadmium (4.78 mg/kg body weight of rat) in the first month among the studied organs. The highest uptake of cadmium and nickel were in the kidney and liver, respectively. In general, results show that the accumulation of heavy metals in the body is a function of time, type of element and organ. If pollution is not controlled in the country's food cycle, these metals are absorbed in large quantities by the body and show their side effects and problems.