"Nifedipine in the treatment of liver toxicity induced by Acetaminophen overdose in mice "

Abstract

Acetaminophen is an analgesic and antipyretic drug, which is widely used by public and poisoning with this drug, is common. One of the most important adverse effects of acetaminophen poisoning is centrilobullar necrosis in hepatic cells, which depends on activity of microsomal cytochrome P-450 (CYP) enzymes. The aim of this investigation was to find out the protective effect of nifedipine against liver toxicity caused by acetaminophen overdose (700 mg/kg as calcium channel blocker). In this study doses of 5, 50, 100, 250, 500 mg/kg of nifedipine were administered to mice orally one hour before acetaminophen administration. The negative control group receive normal saline. The positive control group was administered with acetaminophen at a dose of 700 mg/kg one hour after nifedipine administration. After 24 hours, enzyme activity (ALT, AST), histopathological examination and liver weight were compared with the control groups. The results revealed that nifedipine at dose of 500 mg/kg was the most effective and protected damage from acetaminophen toxicity.