Evaluation Of Hepatotoxic Effect Of The Chronic Use Of Metronidazole In Wister Albino Rats:- Eno, Agnes O

ABSTRACT Metronidazole has a reasonable safety profile when taken in therapeutic doses. Metronidazole has been used for the treatment of infections for >45 years and is still successfully used for the treatment of trichomoniasis, amoebiasis, and giardiasis. However, it could induce hepatotoxicity and even more severe fatal acute hepatic damage when taken in an overdose or in long term usage. This present study is aimed to evaluate the hepatotoxicity effect of the chronic use of metronidazole in Wister albino rats. This study was design with six groups (control: received normal saline, group 1: received 50mg/kg of metronidazole, group 2: received 40mg/kg of metronidazole, group 3: received 30mg/kg of metronidazole, group 4: received 20mg/kg of metronidazole and group 5: received lOmg/kg ofmetronidazole) per b.wt. Male albino Wister rats was administered different concentrations of metronidazole showed a significantly (P<0.05) increased serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total and direct bilirubin and conjugated bilirubin. At the same time, there were decreased activities of serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total and direct bilirubin and conjugated bilirubin as the dosage concentrations decreases compared with the untreated control group. Administration graded dosage of 50 and 40 mg/kg body weight significantly (P<0.05) increased the liver damage marker enzymes, total and conjugated bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase in serum when compared with group that received low dosage of 1 Omg/kg body weight and the normal control. These results suggest that administration ofhigher dosage of metronidazole and its long term usage exhibits a potent hepatotoxicity damage in rats, which may be due to the increase of dosage.