Beta-Cyfluthrin Induced Histochemical Alterations in the Liver of the Albino Rat

Abstract

Pesticide poisoning and related diseases have gained considerable attention in the recent past. Beta-cyfluthrin  is a type II pyrethroid pesticide and is widely used against crop and house hold pests. The present study  has been designed to assess histochemical alterations following beta-cyfluthrin intoxication in the liver of  the female albino rat (Rattus norvegicus). Beta-cyfluthrin was orally administrated, 35.48 mg/kg b.wt. for  acute (1 day) and 5.06, 2.53 and 1.68 mg/kg b.wt. for sub-acute (7, 14 and 21 days) treatments respectively.  Beta-cyfluthrin caused marked hepatotoxicity in the form of altered hepatosomatic index viz. liver weight,  body weight and liver weight-body weight ratio and histochemical localization of DNA and proteins in the  liver of albino rat. On the basis of histochemical study, it could be revealed that beta-cyfluthrin causes a reduction  in hepatic proteins and an enhancement in the hepatic DNA. The centrilobular zone was the zone of  maximum alteration followed by the midzone and periportal zone of the hepatic lobule. Decreased protein  content is a consequence of lysis of structural proteins and the need to support increased cell proliferation  under stress of beta-cyfluthrin, whereas increased DNA is a consequence of increased mitogenic activity resulting  in excessive cell proliferation.. It is proposed that xenobiotic metabolising enzymes, which are most  concentrated in the centrilobular zone, cause the formation of metabolites of beta-cyfluthrin, which are  toxic to the liver. Lower oxygen levels in the centrilobular zone, compared to other parts of the liver lobule,  may have also contributed to the observed histochemical changes being greatest in the centrilobular zone.