Detoxificating effects of Moringa oleifera leaf and Zingiber officinale root powder on cadmium toxicity in blood and fur of wistar rats

Abstract

Heavy metals are hazardous substances that cause serious health risk to ecosystem and organisms due to their high toxicity conferred by nature of their environmental persistence. Heavy metals have been defined based on their specific density (of metals greater than 4 or 5 g/liter), having atomic weight between 63.546 and 200.590 (Sagakachi, Makajima & Atoleiye et al). Unlike organic pollutants, heavy metals are non-biodegradable, so they persist for long in their host organism, constituting long term problem (Atolaiye). Cadmium is a soft, malleable, ductile, bluishwhite divalent metal. It’s average concentration in the earth crust is between 0.1 and 0.5 mg/kg [1,2]. It is an environmental toxicant that adversely affect various organs such as liver, lungs, kidney, pancrease, testis, etc [3-4]. Plants are said to contain some phytochemicals which are good potential chelating agents of heavy metals [5]. Moriga oleifera is a vegetable belonging to the family Moringaceae which is widespread in both tropical and subtropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa [6].