Effect of acute lead intoxication on the ultrastructure of neutrophils in the peripheral blood of the rat.
The influence of lead acetate on the ultrastructure of peripheral neutrophils was investigated in adult male rats. It was found that a single intraperitoneal administration of lead at dose 150 mg Pb/kg b.w. led to ultrastructural changes in the neutrophils at 3 and 6 h post injection. At the time of testing the exposed population had a mean (+/- SD) blood lead concentration from 206.2 +/- 24.8 micrograms/100 ml to 75.2 +/- 9.9 micrograms/100 ml compared with a mean value of 4.0 +/- 0.7 micrograms/100 ml for the control groups. The ultrastructural alterations such as irregular nuclei with deep invaginations, plasma membrane pockets, the presence of vacuoles with a heterogeneous material and an increasing amount of RER cisternae, were most clearly expressed 6 h after lead administration. In addition there appeared sometimes nuclear pockets, and a prominent crystalline inclusion placed in the cytoplasmic matrix of some neutrophils. No differences in the mitochondrial morphology and cytoplasmic granule pattern between exposed and control rats were observed.
PubMed Abstracts
PubMed Abstracts