SOME HISTOLOGICAL OBSEVATIONS ON THE CEREBELLAR CORTEX OF ADULT WISTAR RATS FOLLOWING ALUMINIUM CHLORIDE EXPOSURES

Ajibade A. J.*, Fakunle P. B. and Atanda O. M.

ABSTRACT

Aluminum, is regarded to be the most abundant element in the earth crust, has long been known to have no significant biofunction in the human body. However, research findings have shown that Aluminum chloride is implicated in several health complications within the body system. This study investigated the possible effects of aluminum chloride exposure on the cerebellar, cortex in adult rats. 32 adult Wistar rats were used for this study, the Wistar rats were divided into four groups; group A was regarded as the control group, group B received 0.2g/kg, group C received 0.4g/kg, while group D received 0.6g/kg of Aluminum chloride for a duration of three weeks. At the end of three weeks of administration, the Wistar rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation after which the brains were harvested, weighed and fixed immediately in formol calcium. The cerebellar tissues were processed for light microscopy. Results showed statistically significant decrease in the body weights but the brain weights of aluminum- treated -rats were not significantly different from the controls at P<0.05 . However, histological studies indicated that the cerebellar cortex of aluminum-treated showed neuronal degeneration and cellular loss which caused neuronal vacuolation and necrosis in treated rats compared with the cerebellar cortex of the controls that appeared normal The study concluded that exposure to high levels of aluminum chloride in wistar rats resulted in neuronal degeneration which may ultimately result in compromise of cerebellar functions.

Keywords: Aluminium, Cerebellar Cortex, Purkinje cells, Neuronal Degeneration.