Background: The currently approved treatment for lead toxicity is chelation therapy to reduce the burden of the toxic effects of lead,butthesafetyandefficacyof thevariouschelatingagentsmaybequestioned. Objectives:Thisstudywasaimedtoevaluatetheeffectsofcaffeicacid,adietarynon-flavonoidphenolicacid,onleadaccumulation andlead-inducedoxidativestressinmice. MaterialsandMethods:Inthisexperimentalstudy,24miceweredividedintofourgroups.Group1servedascontrol.Miceingroup 2receivedwatercontaining1000ppmleadacetate. Group3animalsreceivedcaffeicacid(60mg/kgbodyweight)i.p. duringlead treatment. Mice in group 4 only received caffeic acid. At the end of the experiment (18 days), blood samples were drawn and the levelsof leadandsomeoxidative-stressrelatedparametersweremeasured. Results:BloodPbconcentrationincreasedsignificantlyingroup2ascomparedtocontrolgroup.Leadexposurecausedsignificant increaseofmalondialdehydeanddecreaseofglutathioneconcentrationsinerythrocytehaemolysateascomparedtocontrolgroup. Althoughcaffeicacidwaseffectiveinnormalizationof theattenuatedlevelsof erythrocyticglutathione,itsadministrationhadno significant effect in decreasing the augmented levels of erythrocytic malondialdehyde in group 3. Values of other measured parametersincludingerythrocyticactivitiesofglutathioneperoxidaseandsuperoxidedismutasedidnotchangesignificantlyamong experimentalgroups. Conclusions: Present results show some beneficial effects of caffeic acid against lead poisoning and it can be thus proposed as a potentialprophylactictreatmentforameliorationof leadtoxicity.

Keywords