Hepatic and Renal Histopathological Changes Following Therapeutic and High-Dose Loperamide Administration in Swiss-White Mice
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Abstract
This study investigates the effects of loperamide administration on the hepatic and renal histopathology. Twenty young white mice were randomly allocated into three groups: a control group given normal distilled water (n=6), a therapeutic-dose group receiving 2 mg/kg/day loperamide (n=7), and a high-dose group receiving 6 mg/kg loperamide/day (n=7) for 3 weeks. Following the treatment period, liver and kidney tissues were collected and processed for histopathological evaluation. Histological examination revealed that dose-dependent tissue change was found in both the liver and kidneys of the groups treated with loperamide. However, high-dose loperamide administration was associated with marked hepatic and renal lesions such as vascular abnormalities, hepatocellular degeneration, nuclear damage (karyolysis, pyknosis, karyorrhexis), and necrosis. Renal tissue exhibited prominent tubular necrosis together with other degenerative changes when compared to animals treated with the therapeutic dose which demonstrated mild histopathological alterations. In conclusion, these findings suggest that high-dose of loperamide administration induced marked hepatic and renal histopathological lesions in mice, indicating a dose-dependent increase between tissue injury/abnormalities and Loperamide abuse exceeding the recommended therapeutic dose leads to potential hepatoxic and nephrotoxic effects.
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