EFFECT OF COPPER OXIDE NANOPARTICLES ON THE SPLEEN OF ADULT MALE ALBINO RAT AND THE POSSIBLE PROTECTIVE ROLE OF VITAMIN C HISTOLOGICAL STUDY

Aya Mostafa*, Somaya Abdel Alim, Gehad A Hammouda and Sara Abdel Gawad

ABSTRACT

Background: Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) have attracted attention mostly because of their antimicrobial and biocide properties. Despite their high application potential, there are various disadvantages of CuO NPs as they have potential toxic effects compared with other conventional metal oxide NPs. The primary target organs of CuO NPs are kidney, liver and spleen. Aim of the work: To assess the effect of two different doses of CuO NPs on the histological structure of the spleen of adult male albino rats and to evaluate the possible prophylactic role of vitamin C as an antioxidant. Materials & methods: Fifty adult male albino rats were divided randomly into three groups. Group I; served as control group, group II was divided into two subgroups: subgroup IIA; injected with 10 mg/kg CuO NPs intraperitoneal (IP) for seven days and subgroup IIB; injected with 25 mg/kg CuO NPs (IP) for seven days. Group III: received (IP) injection of 90 mg/kg vitamin C, then one hour later rats were subdivided into two subgroups. Subgroup IIIA; injected with CuO NPs in a dose of 10 mg/kg and subgroup IIIB; injected with 25 mg/kg CuO NPs (IP) for seven days. Spleen of all rats was dissected out and processed for histological and immunohistochemical study. Morphometric and statistical analysis were also performed. Results: Injection of CuO NPs induced structural changes in the spleen which were dose dependent. There was atrophy of the white pulp with predominance of the red pulp. Cells appeared vacuolated with darkly stained or fragmented nuclei. The blood sinusoids were dilated and congested. There was also significant increase in caspase-3 positive cells compared to the control group. However, prophylaxis with vitamin C illustrated good improvement in the histological picture of the spleen of subgroup IIIA but minimal protective effect was observed in subgroup IIIB. Conclusion and recommendations: CuO NPs induced structural changes in the splenic architecture and this response was augmented with increasing the dose. In addition, vitamin C alone was not efficient in preventing CuO NPs cytotoxicity especially in high dose. More investigations should be done to fully elucidate the prophylactic effect of vitamin C combined with other antioxidants to protect the spleen from CuO NPs toxicity.

Keywords: Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs), spleen, Lymphocytes, Macrophages.