Organ histopathological changes and its function damage in mice following long-term exposure to lanthanides chloride.

Due to increasing applications of lanthanides (Ln) in industry and daily life, numerous studies confirmed that Ln exposure may result in organ damages in mice and rats, while very few studies focused on several organs damages simultaneously. In order to compare the toxicity of Ln on organs, mice were exposed to LaCl(3), CeCl(3), and NdCl(3) of a dose of 20 mg/kg body weight for consecutive 60 days, respectively, then histopathological changes of liver, kidney, and heart, and their function were investigated. The results showed that long-term exposure to Ln caused cell necrosis and basophilia of liver, ambiguity of renal tubule architecture, congestion of blood vessel and capillary of kidney, and heart hemorrhage. The histopathological changes of liver, kidney, and heart in mice caused by Ce(3+) was most severe; the effect by Nd(3+) was slighter than Ce(3+) but more severe than La(3+). The assay of serum biochemical parameters suggested that Ln exposure severely impaired the functions of liver, kidney, and myocardium in mice. These findings suggested that long-term exposure to Ln resulted in histopathological changes of liver, kidney, and heart, and their function damages. Therefore, we thought that long-term application of the products containing Ln on human should be cautious.