ABSTRACT
Potassium bromate (KBrO3) is classified as mutagenic and carcinogenic although used in food and
cosmetics industries, and also found in drinking water as a by-product of disinfection. Industrial
pollution of drinking water and its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier lead to the investigation of its
effect on the cerebral cortex. Twenty adult Wistar rats with average weight of 200 g were divided into
four groups designated as ‘A’ for the control group, and ‘B, C and D’ for the test groups, with each
group having five rats. All animals had free access to feed and water. The control group did not receive
any treatment, while the test groups received 0.1 mg/kg, 0.2 mg/kg, and 0.3 mg/kg of KBrO3
respectively, for 28 (twenty-eight) days through orogastric tube. On the 29th day, all animals were
anaesthetized using ketamine hydrochloride (100 mg/kg, i.p.), and the brains were perfused
transcardially with 0.9 % buffered saline followed by 10 % buffered formalin. The brains were removed
and further preserved in 10% buffered formalin. The cerebral cortex was dissected, processed for
paraffin sectioning and stained for histological study using Haematoxylin and Eosin technique and
astrocytes immunolabelling with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Results revealed that KBrO3
caused histological alterations and degeneration of neurons and astrocytes in the KBrO3 test groups
especially the high dosage groups. These effects were dose dependent, and hence the degeneration of
cells may lead to the functional impairment of the cerebral cortex.