Evaluation of toxicological implications of ingestion exposure to gasoline in mammals

Epidemiologic and experimental data suggest that exposure to petroleum hydrocarbon exert toxicities on variety of organs of living system such as the lungs, liver and kidney. Because increased LDL cholesterol, decreased HDL cholesterol and alteration in the level of total serum cholesterol have all been implicated as risk factors for atherosclerosis, this present study was designed to determine whether very low percentages of gasoline per kilogramme body weight could cause toxicity in rats. Female albino Wistar rats were divided into four groups. The control group was fed with normal rat diet. Groups 2, 3 and 4 were fed with diet contaminated with 0.10%, 0.50% and 1.00% gasoline respectively for a total of 14 days. Total serum cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels were used as diagnostic markers to assess liver dysfunction. The mean levels of total cholesterol, LDLcholesterol and triglyceride were significantly (p<0.05) higher in the experimental groups when compared to the control and the mean level of HDL- cholesterol was significantly (p<0.05) lower when higher percentage of gasoline was administered. These results showed that frequent exposure to gasoline fuel may be highly deleterious to the liver cells.