Adeleye Gbenga Sunday^1,, Oseni Olatunde Abbas², Odesanmi Olalekan³, Ajayi Akande Oladimeji¹

This research work was aimed at studying the impact of chronic lead exposure on healing of experimentally induced Colitis in Wistar rats. The results will increase our understanding of the roles played by heavy metals toxicity in colitis disease initiation, progression and remission. Cases of environmental lead exposure and its effects on the health of humans and animals are becoming more noticeable globally. However, there is paucity of information on how chronic lead exposure interferes with healing of chemically–induced colitis in rats. Sixty male rats (80-100 g) were randomly and equally divided into control (tap water), low dose and high dose (Lead acetate, 100 ppm and 5,000 ppm respectively, p.o.) groups. Twenty weeks post- treatment, colitis was induced in the colon of the animals by injection of 6% Acetic acid solution via a modified Teflon cannula into the colon of the animals. Colitis (stool) scoring was done between in all groups. Histological slides were prepared on selected days. The results showed that in control animals, coltis healing was complete on day 12 compared to day 22 in treated animals. In conclusion, exposure of rats to Lead delayed colitis healing, buttressing the fact that people with inflammatory bowel disease should avoid Lead exposure.

lead, colitis, acetic acid, colon, rats