Scientific journal
European Journal of Natural History
ISSN 2073-4972
ИФ РИНЦ = 0,301

INFLUENCE OF DRINKING WATER QUALITY ON BLOOD PARAMETERS

Shubina O.S., Smertina N.A.

One of the global problems in the 21st century is to provide population with good-quality drinking water. The problem is especially acute in big cities.

The aim of our research was to study, how the quality of drinking water influences the hematological blood properties.

As a biological test object in our experiment, we used white outbred mature female rats (body weight 180-200 g). The experiment lasted 1 month. The animals were divided in two groups. The first (control) group included 15 female rats, which received bottled still water «Aqua Minerale» that has a balanced macro- and microelement content, according to the Russian sanitary standards. The second (experimental) group also contained 15 female rats, which drank the tap water provided by the city water facilities of Saransk in the Republic of Mordovia. The analysis of tap water´s mineral content revealed, that a number of parameters exceed the maximal permissible concentration (MPC), for example: water hardness (8,22 mg/l; MPC - 7 mg/l), fluorine (1,85 mg/l; MPC - 1,5 mg/l), iron (0,34 mg/l; MPC - 0,3 mg/l), magnesium (72,9 mg/l; MPC - 40 mg/l), sodium and potassium (201,45 mg/l; MPC - 200 mg/l).

As a result, it was stated, that the animals from the experimental group showed no significant difference in appearance compared with the control group. However, we have observed a slightly higher agility of the animals that consumed the water with a higher level of macro- and microelements. Hematological blood analysis showed, that the erythrocyte content of blood in the experimental group was 11,7% higher than in control, leucocytes - 54,2% higher, hemoglobin - 4,2 % higher, erythrocyte sedimentation rate - 70 % higher, total protein - 19,4% higher, urea - 4,3% higher, creatinine - 113% higher (р≤0,05).

To sum up, the study results prove, that higher content of macro- and microelements in drinking water influences the hematological properties of blood and general health condition.

The work was submitted to international Environmental Forum « Ecology of the big city», St. Petersburg, Russia, April 18-20, 2009, came to the editorial office 10.02.2009.