Effects of oil plastic extract on mice

Int J Environ Health Res 2001 Mar;11(1):73-80 Mar01

Al-Khatim AS, Al-Hachim GM.

Department of Environmental Health, King Abdulaziz University, PO Box 9034, Jeddah 21413, Saudi Arabia.

In the plastics industry, various chemical additives are used to improve certain properties of plastics. Some of these chemicals, that might be toxic, have been proved to leach from the plastic containers and mix with their contents such as food oils, beverages, drugs, etc. Locally manufactured polyvinyl chloride (PVC) jerrycans were bought from the market and cut into small chips of 0.5 cm in the larger dimension. Four grams of chips were extracted with 20 ml cottonseed oil in the autoclave for 1 h at 121 degrees C. The extract was prepared daily and given orally to adult MFI mice in a dose of 10 ml kg(-1) body weight. Pure cottonseed oil was prepared under the same conditions and given in a dose of 10 ml kg(-1) body weight to the control group. Treatment of both groups continued for 1 month. Each group comprised 60 animals, regardless of sex. Effects of the oil plastic extract were observed on blood elements, serum transaminases (aspartate aminotransferase, AST, and alanine aminotransferase, ALT), organ-to-body weight of the liver, kidneys and brain, and the nervous system (effects on the neuromuscular junction and analgesia, using the Rota-Rod(R) treadmill 'RRT', and the hot plate, respectively). All the results were subjected to Student's t-test.

The results showed that the extract induced significant effects: an increase in the activities of AST (p< 0.001) and ALT (p< 0.02), an increase in the mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) (p< 0.01), and the monocyte count (p< 0.01). It decreased the white blood cell count (WBC) (p< 0.01), the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) (p< 0.05), and the lymphocyte count (p< 0.05). It also reduced the weight of the liver (P< 0.01), kidneys (P< 0.05), and the endurance time on the RRT (p< 0.001).