Some histological and biochemical evaluation on commercial hair dyes

Abstract

The use of hair dyes as a means of beautification is currently increasing. This study aimed at evaluating the toxicity of different commercial hair dyes on the histology of the skin and biochemical parameters of the liver of Albino rats. This study was carried out in the Pathology Department, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital Calabar and College of Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar between May, 2019 and October, 2019. Four different colours of hair dyes were obtained from a cosmetic store in Watt daily market in Calabar, Cross River State. Twenty male Albino rats with average weight of 55g were used for this study. The rats were randomly divided into five (5) groups of four (4) rats each. Group 1 to 4 served as the test groups while group 5 served as the control group. Different colours of hair dye were applied topically on selected area of the back of Albino rats daily for 30 days after which, the rats were sacrificed using chloroform inhalation procedure. The skin of the rat was harvested for histology while heart puncture was used to collect 5 milliliters of blood from each rat for biochemical analysis. Plasma Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was determined using Kind and King's method. Plasma Alanine amino transferase (ALT) and Aspartate Amino transferase (AST) were determined by Reitman and Frankel method. Serum protein (TP) was determined by Biurette's method while bilirubin was estimated using Powell's method. Liver tissues were processed using routine paraffin wax tissue processing method for histological analysis. The serum levels of ALP, AST, TP, Total bilirubin (TB) and conjugated bilirubin (CB) in all the test groups were significantly increased when compared with the control (P=0.001). Histological evaluations indicated evidence of cellular injury in all the test groups. Prolonged use of commercial hair dyes caused adverse effects to the skin and liver as seen in the Albino rat used in this study.