title: Long-Term Exposure of Lead Acetate on Rabbit Renal Tissue.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lead has been widely used in different industries for ages. It is one of the heavy metals, highly poisonous even at low doses, and has biochemical, physiological and behavioral side effects on human and animals. It has been shown that lead has toxic effects on different tissues such as neural and genitourinary tissues, cardiovascular systems and blood. Therefore, high attention has been paid to its environmental pollutions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Although many histological and biochemical studies have reported about the effects of lead on the renal tissue, there are a few studies about the ultrastructure and morphometric effects of lead on the kidney. Hence, the aim of this study was the evaluation of morphology and morphometrics of rabbit renal urinary barrier ultrastructure following long-term exposure to lead acetate.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this experimental study, 20 male New Zealand rabbits were divided into control and test groups (10 in each). The test group was injected intraperitoneally with chronic dose (8.5 mg/kg of body weight) of lead acetate and for the control group the same volume of normal saline was used, every other day for 10 weeks. After anesthetizing, the biopsies of renal tissues were taken for light and electron microscopic morphometric and morphologic analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Long-term exposure to lead acetate caused histopathology effects including dilatation, congestion, nuclei heterochromatic effects, increase in diameter of renal tubules and urinary barrier thickness in rabbit renal tissue.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Quantitative and qualitative results of long-term lead acetate exposure showed many histopathology side-effects, especially in the urinary barrier.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hassan
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Karimfar
authors.affiliation: The Persian Gulf Marine Biotechnology Research Centre, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Afshar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bargahi
authors.affiliation: Departments of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Darab
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moshtaghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Parviz
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Farzadinia
keywords: Glomeruli; Kidney; Lead Acetate; Morphologic; Morphometric; Urinary Barrier