Functional and Cellular Exocrine Pancreatic Dysfunction in Male Mice Following Sub-Chronic Exposure to Melamine and Formaldehyde - Abstract
Due to the lack of research papers on this topic; we aimed in this work to highlight the bad effects of melamine with or without formaldehyde on the digestive system of mice model including mal-digestion and mal-absorption. Forty adult male Swiss mice were divided into 4 equal groups. The 1st group was treated orally with distilled water and kept as negative control (C group), the 2nd group received 25 mg MA / kg bw (MA group), the 3rd group orally given 50 mg FA /kg bw (FA group) and the 4th group supplemented with 25 mg MA /kg bw + 50 mg FA /kg bw (MA+FA group) for 60 consecutive days. Selective biochemical tests, exocrine pancreatic enzymes and oxidative stress biomarkers were assessed together with spleen and intestine histopathology. The obtained results demonstrated that either MA or FA treatment resulted in a significant decrease in serum total lipids, glucose, sodium, chloride and pancreatic antioxidant enzymes activities as catalase and reduced glutathione contents. However, serum amylase, lipase and lipid peroxidation were significantly increased. These changes were significantly higher in the combination group followed by melamine then the formaldehyde group. Conclusively, chronic exposure to both melamine and formaldehyde have more adverse effects on the exocrine function of pancreas in mice causing maldigestion and malabsorption through their oxidative stress inducing damage in the pancreatic tissue.