Figure 6.

Histopathological results from the liver, kidney, and spleen of rats treated with Cu NPs and Cu ions.

Notes: The liver from rats treated with Cu NPs (males for 1,250 mg/kg and females for 2,500 mg/kg) shows mild inflammatory cell infiltration (closed arrows), vacuolation (open arrows), and sinusoid dilation (open arrowheads). The rats treated with Cu ions show similar histopathological alterations at 625 mg/kg in both sexes (×200). The histological changes of kidneys from rats treated with Cu NPs include inflammatory cell infiltration (closed arrows), hyaline cast (closed arrowheads) and cell debris (asterisks) in tubules, dilated tubules (open arrowheads), and atrophy of glomeruli (open arrows). Kidneys treated with Cu ions exhibit mild dilated tubules and cast in tubules (cortex, ×100; medulla, ×200). The spleen of rats treated with Cu NPs shows mild decrease in cellularity in white pulp and increase in multinucleated giant cells (megakaryocytes; open arrows). Spleen of rats treated with Cu ions has no histological changes (×100). Hematoxylin and eosin stain. Scale bar =50 µm. Cu ions, copper(II) chloride.

Abbreviation: Cu NPs, copper nanoparticles.