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Environmental Security Assessment and Management of Obsolete Pesticides in Southeast Europe pp 287–294Cite as

Relative Liver Weight in Rats Subacutely Exposed to Polychlorinated Biphenyls

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Abstract

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are pollutants abundantly present in the environment. Before they were banned, commercial mixtures of PCBs had been produced in many countries and were used for a number of technical purposes. This is considered to be the main source of the current levels of PCBs found in the environment due to their lipophilic properties and high persistence. The aim of this study was to evaluate dose-response relationship for the effects of the commercial PCBs mixture on relative liver weight by Benchmark dose (BMD) approach, and to derive the BMD10 for the effect. In this study, commercial mixture of PCBs, Aroclor 1254 was used in a 28-day toxicity study in young adult Wistar rats. The rats were provided with food and water ad libitum and maintained in a controlled environment. Commercial mixture of PCBs dissolved in corn oil or corn oil (control) was administered by oral gavage at 1 μL/g. Rats were given doses of 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 mg PCBs/kg b.w./day. After 28 days rats were sacrificed and their livers were weighted. Relative liver weight was calculated as ratio of liver weight and body weight. Using PROAST software a dose-response relationship has been confirmed for the influence of PCBs on relative liver weight and associated CED10 was 0.154 mg/kg bw/day, and its lower confidence limit (CEDL) was 0.1127 mg/kg bw/day proving CED10/CEDL ratio under 10. Our results showed that relatively low doses of PCBs may produce effect on liver weight causing liver hypertrophy in a dose response manner.

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Acknowledgment

This work was partly supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia (Project III 46009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, Vojvode Stepe 450, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Aleksandra Buha, Biljana Antonijević, Zorica Bulat & Vesna Matović

  2. Serbian Chemical Agency, Omladinskih brigada 1, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Vesna Milovanović

Authors
  1. Aleksandra Buha
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  2. Vesna Milovanović
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  3. Biljana Antonijević
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  4. Zorica Bulat
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  5. Vesna Matović
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aleksandra Buha .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Space Research and Technology Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, G. Bonchev Str. Block 29, Sofia, 1113, Bulgaria

    Lubomir I. Simeonov

  2. , Institute of Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of M, Academy str. 3, Chisinau, 2028, Moldova

    Fliur Z. Macaev

  3. Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Tzarigradsko Shossee Bul 72, Sofia, 1784, Bulgaria

    Biana G. Simeonova

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© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Buha, A., Milovanović, V., Antonijević, B., Bulat, Z., Matović, V. (2013). Relative Liver Weight in Rats Subacutely Exposed to Polychlorinated Biphenyls. In: Simeonov, L., Macaev, F., Simeonova, B. (eds) Environmental Security Assessment and Management of Obsolete Pesticides in Southeast Europe. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6461-3_26

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