ABSTRACT
The present study was aimed to know the pulmonary toxicity by individual toxicities of cadmium, chlorpyrifos and their combination in albino wistar rats. The experiment was carried out for 28 days. Group 1 - Control. Group 2 - Cadmium chloride (Cd) @ 22.5 mg/ kg b.wt /per oral / day. Group 3 - Chlorpyrifos (CPF) @ 25 mg/ kg b.wt /per oral / day. Group 4 - Cadmium chloride (Cd) @22.5 mg + Chlorpyrifos (CPF) @ 25 mg/ kg b.wt /per oral / day. Lungs showed mild to moderate congestion in groups 2 and 3 and moderate to severe in group 4 on 15th and 29th day of the experiment. Lung sections of control rats showed normal architecture. Lung sections of group 2 rats on 15th day showed hemorrhages in the interstitium spaces with infiltration of lymphocytes, On 29th day, mild hyperplasia and desquamated bronchial epithelial cells, peri bronchial and peri vascular lymphoid aggregates were noticed. The sections of lung on 15th day of group 3 rats showed exudate and desquamated epithelial cells in the lumen of secondary bronchiole , on 29th day, emphysematous alveoli with loss of architecture of alveolar epithelium, interstitial edema with infiltration of lymphocytes, mild hyperplasia of bronchial epithelial cells were also noticed. In group 4 rats, similar lesions as described in groups 2 and 3 were observed with severe intensity on 15th and on 29th day of the experiment. In combined toxicity group, the severity of lesions were more thus suggesting synergistic effects of these components.