The Effect of Paraquat on the Activity of Some Enzymes in Different Tissues of Mice (Mus musculus - Swiss albino)

Authors: EGEMEN DERE, FİKRİYE POLAT

Abstract: The effects of the LD_{30} (20 mg.kg^{-1}) dose of paraquat, a herbicide, were investigated on creatine kinase (CK), glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) activities in the liver, kidney and lung of mice after 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 72 hours. After paraquat was given intraperitoneally to Mus musculus Swiss albino mice, the control groups were injected with physiological saline. The results were evaluated using the autoanalyzer as U/L. Even though significant increases in the liver tissue LDH and GGT, kidney tissue CK and lung tissue CK and LDH activities were noted when compared to those of the control group (P<0.05), generally no changes were observed in the kidney tissue GOT or GGT or lung tissue GOT, GPT or GGT activities (P>0.05). Although there were significant increases observed in GPT enzyme activities in the liver and kidney tissue at the beginning of the experiment, these activities were found to be at nearly the same level as those of the control group. Liver tissue GOT activity was lower in comparison with the control group at first but it was found to be statistically insignificant at 8 hours and during the subsequent experiment time periods. A decrease was observed in the CK activity in the liver but a significant increase and then a decrease was observed in the LDH activity in the liver. Consequently, it was found that paraquat caused some changes (increases then decreases) in CK, GOT, GPT, LDH and GGT enzyme activity in different tissues of mice. The causes of the increases and decreases in enzyme activities are discussed.

Keywords: Paraquat, liver, kidney, lung, enzymes

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