[Toxicological effects of nitrate: biological study in human and animal]

In order to evaluate the effects of the nitrates toxicity, a study has been carried out on 45 workers of storage and distribution agricultural manures, exposed to nitrate derivatives. Another experimental study has carried out in laboratory on male Albinos wistar rats. These latter were treated with ammonium nitrate (NH(4)NO(3)) introduced by gavage with three increasing concentrations 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg of body weight during three weeks. The biochemical and hematological results on workers showed that no poisoning was announced within this complex, in spite of the observation of kidneys inflammations among about 50% of the population. The chemical treatment of the rats causes a variation in the biochemical and biological parameters: an increase of the hepato-somatic ratio especially in the rats treated by important doses. Moreover, the serum concentration in glucose, cholesterol, creatinin, lactate dehydrogenase and in transaminases (GOT, GPT) was increased significantly compared to the witness in all the treated rats. At the end, the results obtained highlight the detoxifier potential expressed by the reduction in the glutathione level in the deferent organs such as the liver, the kidneys, the spleen, the intestines and the testicles. According to the obtained results, it can be concluded that: (1) living organism can adapt to the lows doses of nitrate for a long time. This is observed in the workers exposed to deferent derivatives of nitrates; (2) high nitrate amounts involve important biological variations even if the exposure time is short. This is proven in the laboratory animals.