ABSTRACT
Background: Humans are continuously exposed to the different types of nitrosamines found in the diet, drinking water, tobacco smoking, and work place. These are the potential source of exposure in the present population. Nitrosamines are found mainly in cured meat products, smoked preserved foods, beer, whiskey, pickled and salty preserved food materials. Nitrosamines have cytotoxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Nitrosamines exert toxic or mutagenic effects by promoting DNA damage, oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species formation that causes increased lipid peroxidation, adduct formation, and pro-inflammatory cytokine activation. Increased chronic exposure of low doses of nitrosamines is unavoidable in current environmental conditions. The nitrosamine explored in this study is N-Nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), representing environmentally significant nitrosamine. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted on pups of wistar rats, (Rattus norvergicus). Six pregnant wistar rats having same pregnancy time were taken. After delivery sixteen pups were chosen randomly. The control and the experimental groups had eight pups each. Sterile water and NDEA were given as 0.2mg/kg intraperitonea daily to the control and the experimental groups of rat pups respectively, from postnatal day 1 to postnatal day 20. All the rat pups were sacrificed on postnatal day 21 to obtain the tissues of the gastrointestinal tract. Results: A significant reduction of morphometric parameters such as the area, the perimeter and the ferret diameter of the perikaryon of the myenteric neurons of the experimental group found .The number of the myenteric neurons per unit area of muscularis externa was also significantly reduced in the NDEA treated wistar rat pups. Conclusions: Chronic low-level exposure of N-Nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) caused significant effect on the histoarchitecture of myenteric plexus of wistar rats.