Alterations in the Concentrations of Liver Mitochondrial DNA, Cytoplasmic Total Hydrocarbon and Calcium in Guinea Pigs after Treatment with Nigerian Light Crude Oil

Ibiba F. Oruambo and Adirimo B. Jones
Additional contact information
Ibiba F. Oruambo: Department of Chemistry, Rivers State University of Science and Technology Nkpolu-Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
Adirimo B. Jones: Department of Chemistry, Rivers State University of Science and Technology Nkpolu-Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

IJERPH, 2007, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-5

Abstract: The alteration of cellular calcium sequestration has been postulated to be a primary mechanism in the initiation of irreversible cell damage. Crude oil has been shown to cause concentration- dependent inhibition of calcium influx and mitochondrial swelling which may relate to its toxicity. Nigerian ‘Bonny’ Light Crude Oil (BLCO) is produced in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria where oil spills are frequent and can endanger human-health, yet BLCO has not been studied in this regard. We have studied the effects of two doses of BLCO on mitochondrial DNA (mt.DNA), cytoplasmic total hydrocarbon concentrations (cyt.THC) and cytoplasmic Ca 2+ (cyt.Ca 2+ ) concentrations in livers of adult male guinea pigs exposed by intraperitoneal injection. The results showed that at 2.5 and 5.0 (ml/kg bw), BLCO caused dose-related increases in mt.DNA concentrations (128% and 485%) respectively over the controls, and cyt.THC (47.5% and 100%) respectively; while it caused near-100% decrease in cyt.Ca 2+ concentrations (94% and 96.8%) respectively lower than the controls. These results suggest that BLCO caused the increased availability of crude oil hydrocarbons in the liver cells, and subsequent induction of unscheduled mt.DNA synthesis, and alteration of mitochondrial/endoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ sequestration or ca 2+ - concentration gradient, leading to the inhibition of Ca 2+ influx into the cytosol. These events may explain the probable hepatotoxicity of BLCO.

Keywords: Mitochondrial DNA: cytoplasmic total hydrocarbon; cytoplasmic Ca2+; bonny light crude oil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/4/1/23/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/4/1/23/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:4:y:2007:i:1:p:23-27:d:2311

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().