Effect of Vitamin C on Subacute Cypermethrin Induced Hematotoxicity and Brain Histopathological Changes in Wistar Rats

Abstract The study was aimed at evaluating the effects of vitamin C on cypermethrin induced haematological and histological changes in adult Wistar rats. Twenty apparently healthy adult Wistar rats were used for this study. The animals were acclimatized for two weeks before the commencement of the study. The rats were divided randomly into 4 groups of 5 animals each. Animals in group A were dosed with distilled water (DW), while those in group B were given Cypermethrin (CYP) at 30mg/kg. The rats in group C were treated with vitamin C (100mg/kg), while those in group D were administered sequentially with cypermethrin (CYP) (30mg/kg) and 30minutes after vitamin C (100mg/kg) was given. The treatments were administered once daily by oral gavage for 2 weeks and all rats were observed for clinical signs within the test period. Clinical signs were observed within the test period. At the end of the experiment, blood (2mls) was collected directly from the heart and brain samples were also collected using dissecting tools from each group. The rats in group B showed clinical signs of diarrhea, salivation, restlessness, scratching and rubbing their mouth on beddings and rough hair coat with erect hairs. Rats in groups A, C and D showed no clinical signs. The decreased WBC, reduced RBC counts and increased MCHC were ameliorated by treatment with vitamin C in group D. Treatment with vitamin C did not affect the body weight of these animals. Vacuoles were seen in the histopathological sections of the brain of groups B and D, which was more evident in group B, while groups A and C were normal. From this study it is concluded that vitamin C mitigated the hematological and brain histopathological changes induced by cypermethrin probably due to its antioxidant mechanism.