title: Effect of acute lead intoxication on the ultrastructure of neutrophils in the peripheral blood of the rat.
abstract: The influence of lead acetate on the ultrastructure of peripheral neutrophils was investigated in adult male rats. It was found that a single intraperitoneal administration of lead at dose 150 mg Pb/kg b.w. led to ultrastructural changes in the neutrophils at 3 and 6 h post injection. At the time of testing the exposed population had a mean (+/- SD) blood lead concentration from 206.2 +/- 24.8 micrograms/100 ml to 75.2 +/- 9.9 micrograms/100 ml compared with a mean value of 4.0 +/- 0.7 micrograms/100 ml for the control groups. The ultrastructural alterations such as irregular nuclei with deep invaginations, plasma membrane pockets, the presence of vacuoles with a heterogeneous material and an increasing amount of RER cisternae, were most clearly expressed 6 h after lead administration. In addition there appeared sometimes nuclear pockets, and a prominent crystalline inclusion placed in the cytoplasmic matrix of some neutrophils. No differences in the mitochondrial morphology and cytoplasmic granule pattern between exposed and control rats were observed.
authors.affiliation: Silesian Academy of Medicine, Department of Electron Microscopy, Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sliwa-Tomczok
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tomczok
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Matysiak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood / Q000633:toxicity*; D007855:Lead Poisoning / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
chemical_list: D007854:Lead