JIST

Abstract

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a toxic gas that escapes easy detection due to its euphoric nature. It utilizes hypoxia in causing mortality or morbidity. The study was aimed at evaluating the effect of chronic CO concentration (>200 ppm) in some liver biochemical parameters utilizing rabbit as a choice animal model. A total twenty (20) apparently health albino rabbits constituted the sample size as validated by mead’s equation. The animals were divided into four groups of five rabbits each. The first group constituted the controls, the remaining groups constituted rabbits exposed thirty minutes daily to CO for 10th, 20th and 30th respectively. Blood samples were extracted from the hearts of the animals for the analysis of  liver enzymes, proteins and bilirubin. One way anova (pos hocLSD) was used for the statistical analysis with level of significant considered at > 0.05. The study showed that serum aspartate aminotransferases (AST), alanine aminotransferases (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total and conjugated bilirubin and albumin/glibulin ratio increased significantly (p>0.05) across the durations of exposure. On the contrary, serum total protein and globulin decreased significantly (p>0.05). The findings revealed that chronic inhalation of CO could have a long term negative consequence on the liver.