Protective Effect of Costus afer Aqueous Leaf Extract (CALE) on Low-Dose Heavy Metal Mixture-Induced Alterations in Serum Lipid Profile and Hematological Parameters of Male Wistar Albino Rats

Table 4

Concentration of heavy metals (mg/kg) on blood of male albino rats treated with metal mixture.

Treatment	Cadmium (Cd)	Mercury (Hg)	Lead (Pb)
Deionized H2O (only)	0.002 ± 0.001^a	0.006 ± 0.003^a	1.129 ± 0.087^a
Metal mixture (only)	0.091 ± 0.007^d	0.518 ± 0.021^e	125.901 ± 15.069^d
Metal mixture + 750 mg/kg CA	0.043 ± 0.006^c	0.273 ± 0.028^d	74.401 ± 9.615^c
Metal mixture + 1500 mg/kg CA	0.024 ± 0.009^b	0.163 ± 0.046^c	35.745 ± 11.037^b
Metal mixture + 2250 mg/kg CA	0.003 ± 0.003^a	0.037 ± 0.016^ab	5.037 ± 1.757^a

Values are expressed as (mean ± SD). Values in the same column with different superscripts are significantly different from each other () and those with the same superscripts in the same column are not significantly different, where CA = Costus afer.