Impact of an environmentally realistic intake of water contaminants and superoxide formation on tissues of rats

Water contaminants have a high potential risk for the health of populations and for this reason their toxic effects urgently should be established. Th e present study was carried out to determine whether an environmentally rea listic intake of water contaminants can induce tissue lesions, and to clari fy the contribution of superoxide radical (O-2(.-)) formation to this effec t. Male Wistar rats were given drinking water from the "Tiett" River (group A) and from the "Capivara" River (group B). The increased creatinine, gluc ose, alanine transaminase and amylase levels in serum reflected the toxic e ffects of river-water contaminants to renal, pancreatic and hepatic tissues of rats. As changes in lipoperoxide were observed in rats after river-wate r intake while superoxide dismutase activities decreased in these animals, it is assumed that the superoxide anion elicits lipoperoxide formation and induces tissue damage. There is evidence that oxygen tension reflects water pollution, since river-water with a-low oxygen tension induced more elevat ed toxicity in rat tissues. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.