The effect of vitamine A and glutamine on methotrexate induced hepatotoxicity in rats

Abstract EN

Methotrexate is one of the most effective and commonly used medicines to treat various forms of arthritis and other rheumatic conditions.

It is known as a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) because it not only decreases the pain and swelling of arthritis but also can reduce damage to joints and the risks of long-term disability.

Method : Twenty eight male rats, were taken from the research center in the College of Medicine at the University of Kufa.

These animals were equally divided into four groups, each of 7 rats, the first group received distilled water added equivalent fluid (corn oil, NaOH and citric acid) and served as control.

The second group received methotrexate at dose of 2.5 mg / BW orally twice daily by gavage, the third group received methotrexate and vitamin A at doses of 2.5 mg / BW + 50000 IU respectively orally twice daily by gavage and the forth group received methotrexate and glutamine at dose 2.5 mg / BW + 500 mg / BW twice daily respectively.

All groups dosing for period 30 days.

At the end of the experiment, all rats were anesthetized using ether and drawed blood 4ml from heart using a-23 gauge needle syringe then killed and take piece of liver and placed in formalin 10 % for histopath examination.

The blood placed in centrifuge 3000 / minute for 10 minutes to obtain serum for analyzing liver function test ( alkaline phosphatase, aspartate amino transferase (AST) and alanine amino transferas (ALT) (measurements and bilirubin) Result : In animal treatment with methotrexate only and those treated with MTX and vit A and glutamine there was no significant difference in serum ALT, serum AST and Bilirubin when compared with control group but ALP elevated in MTX with vit A treated rats and no significant difference in MTX and MTX + glutamine treated groups but showed amyloid changes liver and congestion in methotrexate treatment rat compared with control and no damage in liver of MTX with vit A and glutamine treated groups Conclusion : liver enzymes could be normal despite histopathic change in methotrexate treated animals.