Udeh F.C.¹, Ikwuka A.O.^2,, Epete M.A.¹, Igwe E.C.¹

Background: Local tobacco snuff is consumed by rural women due to the stimulating effect of its nicotine content. Aim: To investigate the effects of ingesting local tobacco snuff by pregnant female Wistar rats on their renal function and histology, as well as on the birth weight of their pups. Materials and methods: 21 female Wistar rats used in this research were randomly separated into three groups and were monitored to confirm pregnancy after mating. Pregnant rats in group II (GII) and group III (GIII) received 20% and 40% respectively of the lethal dose (1.6g/kg/day) of the stock solution (tobacco snuff) via oral gavage while pregnant rats in the control group (GI) did not receive the stock solution. The pregnant rats were weighed during gestation (pregnancy), and on the delivery days (21^st/22^nddays of gestation), the pups (newborns of the female wistar rats) were also weighed. Blood samples were collected from the mother rats for creatinine and urea evaluations using Jaffe’s method and Urease-Berthelots colorimetric method respectively. The harvested kidneys were stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin stains to examine the histological architecture. Results: An average of 5 pups per litter was recorded and the average pup’s birth weight was low in groups II (4.39±0.30g) and III (4.33±0.29g) but not significantly different (p>0.05) from pups’ birth weight in group I (4.50±0.38g). Using Tukey’s post hoc test for analysis, the maternal kidney function tests showed that serum creatinine (1.27±0.12 mg/dL) and urea (16.77±1.65 mg/dL) levels for group II were not significantly different (p>0.05) from the respective values in group I (creatinine1.05±0.07 mg/dL; urea 16.77±1.65 mg/dL), but there was a significant increase in these values for group III (creatinine 1.68±0.10 mg/dL; urea 21.95±1.37 mg/dL). Histological examination showed that the kidneys of mother rats in groups II and III had distorted histological architecture. Conclusion: Consumption of tobacco during pregnancy causes weight loss, severely damages the kidneys and significantly inhibits fetal growth.

snuff, tobacco, nicotine, pregnancy, kidney, pup