CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Birds that live in industrialized, urbanized and intensive agricultural areas has been reported havingaugmented Pb concentrations. The ingestion of this toxic metal can induce histological alterationsin tissues. The aim was to examine the effect of chronic administration of lead on the liver histologyfrom eared dove (Z. auriculata). Adult doves were live-trapped and acclimated to laboratoryconditions before using them in experiments. They were randomly divided into two groups: controlgroup (n=6) and experimental group (n=6) treated with lead acetate in drinking water ad libitium for30 days. The birds were anesthetized and euthanized (CICUA-UNSL). The liver was processed forlight microscopy. The following techniques were applied Hematoxylin-Eosin, Perls? Prussian Blue,and Masson´s trichrome. In the experimental group, histopathological alterations were found in theliver parenchyma. Circulatory disturbances, inflammations and leukocytic infiltration, steatosis ofhepatocytes and its fatty degeneration were observed. In the portal spaces proliferation of the bileducts, dilated portal veins and more connective tissue were found. Melanomacrophage aggregationswhich accumulate melanin and hemosiderin pigments (positive staining with Perls? Prussian blue).In these sense, we also observed that Pb causes a decrease of delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase(ALAD) activity in exposed doves. It is well established that ALAD inhibition altering thehemoglobin synthesis, which results in the release of iron from proteins. Moreover, several studiesobserved that the excess iron is deposited in tissues (e.g. liver) as hemosiderin. The observedhistological disturbances could be due to an inflammatory response in the liver parenchyma of Pbexposed doves.