INFLUENCE OF AGE ON THE EFFECT OF CADMIUM EXPOSURE ON COLONIC STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS AND OXIDATIVE STRESS IN FEMALE WISTAR RATS.

ABSTRACT Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal that is widely distributed in the environment, and exposure to cadmium can have adverse effects on human health. This research was conducted to investigate the influence of age on oxidative stress, Staphylococcus Aureus count and Colonic structure of female wistar rats exposed to cadmium. Thirty healthy female rats were used in this study. Animals of age different groups were grouped into six groups of five animals in each groups. Group one animals served as young control(5 - 6 weeks), group two served as young cadmium treated,whilegroup three was the middle-aged (10- 12 weeks) control group and four as the middle age cadmium treated group. Group five and six were old age (24 weeks) control and cadmium treated respectively. The Cadmium groups were exposed to cadmium chloride through oral gavage for forty- five days at a dosage of 50mg/kg. At the end of forty- five days,the animals were sacrificed and the colon was extracted. Colonic biochemical examination (Superioxide Dismutase (SOD, Catalase (CAT, Total Protein, Glutathione (GSH), Malondialdehyde (MDA), 8- Hydroxyguanosine (8-OHdG, Myeoloperoxiadase (MPO) activity, Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC), Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (TNF- Alpha) was done spectrophotometrically, Staphylococcus Aureus count was done using the pour plate method and the colonic structures were assessed using the histological procedure.The statistical analysis was performed using the graph pad prism 5.0 and data was expressed as mean ± SEM. The results obtained was analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the turkey test for post-hoc comparison among multiple groups. The intergroup difference was considered statistically significant with p