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The Effect of Water Contaminated with Methyl Tertiary Butyl
Ether (MTBE) on the Rat’s Weight and Tissue
Wadiah Saleh Backer*, Ahmed Nabil Abo-Khatwa, Hanadi Ahmed Katouah
King Abdulaziz University, Biochemistry Department, P.O. Box 42737, Jeddah
21551, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
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Lead is known to cause deleterious effects on health and environment.
Therefore, it was removed from car-fuel, in the United States since
1979. In January 2001, Saudi Arabia and other Arabian Gulf States,
replaced lead with a synthetic organic substance called methyl
tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE). MTBE is added to gasoline at 12-15%. It
dissolves readily in water and evaporates quickly. This study was
focused on the possible health hazards of MTBE in drinking water as
manifested by changes in weight and vital tissues (heart, liver, kidney,
lung, and testis) of rat. This study also aimed to establish a
quantitative relationship between MTBE concentration and changes that
occur to these tissues. One hundred and twenty male Wistar rats were
exposed to five different MTBE concentrations (0.0, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000,
2,500 ppm) for 60 days. The results showed that most of MTBE-treated
animals have revealed significant weight loss and the maximum weight
loss (nearly 10 %) was achieved at the highest concentration (2,500 ppm)
after 60 days of treatment. Also, both liver and heart weights were
significantly reduced by almost 9%, and kidneys by 8% of MTBE
concentration of 2,000 ppm. At a higher concentration (2,500 ppm), liver
weight was reduced by 12%. The weight of other tissues (lungs and
testes) remained unchanged. The outcome of the results may lead to
hepatic disorder. This disorder could reduce plasma glucose, or increase
some hepatic markers like ALT, AST, and GGT activity, or elevate the
levels of sodium and chloride in plasma and may have other side effects.
Key words: gasoline; methyl tertiary butyl ether; MTBE; rat weight; rat
tissues.
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