PROLONGED AND UPGRADED ORAL AlCl₃ INDUCED TOXICITY ON THE FEMORAL DIAPHYSIS CELL COMPOSITION IN MALE RODENTS

Aluminium contamination is often found in daily life unintentionally, including in drinking water and food appliances. Aluminium intoxication impairs the balance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant levels, which produces oxidative stress and apoptosis. In bone tissue, it has been reported in previous studies to alter mineral deposition and cellular composition. However, the effects of gradually increased dose and exposure periods have not been explored extensively. We examined later, using induced oral AlCl₃ on 27 male Wistar rodents aged 2-3 months. These animals were randomized equally into 3 groups, control (placebo), Al-1 (oral AlCl₃, 64 mg/kg of body weight/day for 67 days, then the dose was doubled to 128 mg/ kg of body weight/day for 20 days) and Al-2 (oral AlCl₃, 128mg/kg of body weight/day for 67 days then the dose was doubled to 256mg/kg of body weight/day for 20 days). The means of osteocyte, osteoblast, osteoclast cell nuclei, and diaphysis trabecular density of the right femoral bone tissue were calculated from the longitudinal slices using Cell Sense, Adobe Photoshop, and ImageJ software after being stained with HE. Data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis or one-way ANOVA to seek significant differences with a significance level of p<0.05. In Al-2, osteocytes were significantly lower than other groups (p=0.024), whereas osteoclasts were significantly higher than Al-1 (p=0.001). There were no significant differences in the osteoblasts (p=0.102) and the trabecular bone density (p=0.094).