White Rot Fungus (Pleurotus pulmonarius) Cultivated on Lead Contaminated Rice Straw Induced Haematotoxicity and Lead Accumulation in Liver and Kidney of Wistar Rats

Abstract

White rot fungi (Pleurotus species) are edible mushrooms known for their ability to bioaccumulate contaminants including metals from the environment. There is scarcity of information on the toxic effects of the bioaccumulated metals on organisms at higher trophic levels. In this study, we investigated alterations in haematological indices and erythrocyte morphology and lead bioaccumulation potentials in liver and kidney of Wistar rats fed aqueous extract of Pleurotus pulmonarius cultivated on lead (0, 10, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 mg/L) contaminated rice straw substrate. After 8 weeks of cultivation, mushroom did not germinate in the 1000 mg/L Pb contaminated rice straw. 1 g of mushroom harvested from each of the remaining concentrations showed significant (p<0.001) increase in Pb concentration. Rats exposed to 0.5 mL of the contaminated mushroom extracts for 30 days, showed decreased leucocyte, erythrocyte, haematocrit, platelet and haemoglobin concentrations. Abnormal erythrocyte morphologies like acanthocytes, schizocytes and tear drop were significantly higher in the Pb treated mushroom fed rats than the control. The kidney and liver of treated rats showed significant (p<0.05) increase in Pb concentration with higher Pb bioaccumulation factor in the kidney than the liver. Also insignificant decrease in body and organ weight was observed in treated rats than the control. Pb accumulation in P. pulmonarius increased liver and kidney Pb bioaccumulation and induce alterations in haematological indices and erythrocyte morphology in rats. This poses public health threat to humans and other tertiary consumers foraging white rot fungi from metal contaminated sites.

Carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk assessment of consuming metal-laden wild mushrooms in Nigeria: Analyses from field based and systematic review studies

“…Also, significant increase in abnormal sperm morphology was observed in the caudal epididymis of the exposed mice [ 11 ]. Furthermore, the accumulated Pb also increased micronucleated polychromatic (PCE) and normochromatic (NCE) erythrocytes and decrease PCE-NCE ratio in the bone marrow of the exposed mice compared to the control [ 11 , 12 ].…”

“…Over ten (10) different species of mushroom, with high nutritional and medicinal importance, are commonly consumed in Nigeria [6,7]. However, despite the nutritional and health benefits derived from mushrooms, their ability to readily accumulate pollutants, most importantly metals, from contaminated environment and subsequently bio-concentrate these pollutants in tertiary consumers including humans, is increasingly being reported around the world [5,6,[8][9][10][11][12]. Human exposure to toxic chemicals through the consumption of mushrooms has been suggested a potential source of direct metal accumulation, and this poses great risk to human and wildlife (herbivores) health and survival [9][10][11]13].…”

“…Mushrooms possess effective mechanisms that enhance adequate absorption and translocation of toxic chemicals from contaminated sites when compared with many other plants growing in the same or similar environment [14][15][16]. Through the mycelium, mushrooms absorb toxic metals from the substrates into the fruiting bodies [11,12,17]. Colak et al [18] reported that patients who consumed poisoned mushrooms collected from the wild expressed nausea and alteration in aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase.…”

Clinico-biochemical and histopathological alterations in sub-chronically exposed mice (Mus Musculus) to polyherbal antimalarials

“…Mice were sacrificed by cervical dislocation. Collection of animals' organs was done following the method described by (Onifade et al, 2016). The liver, right kidney, spleen, heart and brain were harvested, rinsed with ice-cold physiological saline, blotted dry with clean tissue and weighed using analytical weighing balance.…”