US EPA

3985879 

Journal Article 

Abstract 

The hematotoxicity of Cd and PCBs mixture: Employing the rat experimental model to evaluate the effects on blood cells count 

Buha, A; Milovanovic, V; Antonijevic, B; Curcic, M; Bulat, Z; Cosic, DD; Matovic, V 

2016 

1 

Toxicology Letters
ISSN: 0378-4274
EISSN: 1879-3169 

258 

S319-S319 

English 

10.1016/j.toxlet.2016.06.2086 

WOS:000402436700959 

Humans are concurrently and simultaneously exposed to hundreds of thousands of chemicals from very different sources, hence the exposure assessment and toxicological evaluation should be focused on mixtures rather than on single chemicals, giving special attention to potential interactions between chemicals in mixtures. In this study, hematotoxicity of mixture of cadmium (Cd) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), widely spread persistent environmental pollutants, has been evaluated.

In order to assess the potential hematotoxicity of this “cocktail of pollutants”, Wistar rats were subacutely orally treated with six different doses of single chemicals or nine different dose combinations of their mixtures. Blood samples were collected from carotid artery and red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC) and platelets (PLT) were counted. Statistical significance differences among data were tested using ANOVA+ Fisher's LSD test while possible interactions were assessed using the concept of differences in slope of dose–response curves for single chemicals and for mixture.

Results of this study showed that Cd and/or PCBs can induce adverse effects on hematopoietic system as one of the most sensitive systems in organism. Both single and mixture treatments produced statistically significant effects on WBC and PLT count; the effects of mixtures were shown to be additive. Furthermore, mixtures produced significant decrease in RBC count when compared to controls, although this effect was not observed during the same dose regime of single components.

These results implicate that mixture can exert toxic effects that are not induced by their single components indicating complexity of risk assessment of mixtures. 

52nd Congress of the European Societies of Toxicology (EUROTOX) 

Seville, Spain 

September 4-6 2016