Praseena Paulose1, Sanis Juliet1, Sujith Samraj1, Suresh Narayanan Nair1, Leena Chandrasekhar2, Ajith Jacob George3, Gopakumar Narayanan1, Koshy John4, Reghu Ravindran5*

1Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology; 2Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Histology; 3Department of Veterinary Pathology; 4Department of Veterinary Microbiology; 5Department of Veterinary Parasitology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Pookode, Wayanad, Kerala 673576, India.

*Correspondence | Reghu Ravindran, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Pookode, Wayanad, Kerala, India; Email: drreghuravi@yahoo.com

Abstract
The hepatotoxic potential of azithromycin and the ameliorative role of vitamin E in azithromycin induced toxicity were studied in adult Wistar rats. The study also assessed the effectiveness of pretreatment and posttreatment of Vitamin E in protecting against the injury caused. Azithromycin at 30mg/kg and Vitamin E at 50 IU/kg were administered orally for a period of fifteen days. Azithromycin at the administered dose did not affect the body weight gain or the relative liver weight in treated rats whereas it significantly (P<0.01) decreased the alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase activities in liver. Pretreatment with vitamin E increased the levels of ALT, AST and SOD with no significant variations in the levels of ALP and catalase activities in the liver of rats. Significant (P<0.01) increase in the levels of AST and SOD in liver was also observed during posttreatment with vitamin E. The hematological parameters viz., total erythrocyte count, hemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, packed cell volume and differential leucocyte count did not show any significant variation among different groups while the total leukocyte count was significantly (P<0.01) increased in vitamin E alone and Vitamin E pre and posttreatment groups. Histopathology of liver of azithromycin treated group revealed cloudy swelling, periportal fatty change and bile duct hyperplasia. The results of this study revealed that pretreatment with vitamin E could mitigate the lesions induced by azithromycin more effectively than the posttreatment. Hence, vitamin E prophylaxis at 50 IU/kg may be considered beneficial for protection of liver against azithromycin induced damage.

Keywords | Azithromycin, hepatotoxicity, ALT, AST, catalase, SOD, vitamin E

Editor | Kuldeep Dhama, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Received | October 14, 2015; Revised | December 26, 2015; Accepted | December 28, 2015; Published | February 12, 2016

Citation | Paulose P, Juliet S, Samraj S, Nair SN, Chandrasekhar L, George AJ, Narayanan G, John K, Ravindran R (2016). Ameliorative effect of vitamin E on azithromycin induced biochemical and histological changes in liver tissue of rats. Adv. Anim. Vet. Sci. 4(2): 85-91.

ISSN (Online) | 2307-8316; ISSN (Print) | 2309-3331

Copyright © 2016 Paulose et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.