HEPATOTOXICITY OF DOXYCYCLINE: BIOCHEMICAL AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN RABBITS

Background: To study the degree of hepatotoxicity of Doxycycline molecule on the basis of biochemicaland histopathological changes in the serum/liver of rabbits at different doses.This descriptive and analytic study was conducted in the Department of Biotechnology, University ofMalakand, Dir and Department of Biochemistry, SMC,Swat.Matterial And Methods:Different oral doses of doxycycline were administered to healthy rabbits, dividedin to six groups A, B, C, D, E & F. The strength of the dose was kept as 10, 20, 40, 80, & 100 mg/kg bodyweight for four consecutive days respectively, while the group F was kept as untreated control. Serum ALTlevels were measured at 1st, 4,h, 8th, & 12th post medicated days to evaluate degree of hepatotoxicity. Postmortem examinations of all groups were performed at the end of experiment.Results: Significant rise in ALT was observed in all treated subjects as compared to un-treated control(group F). The maximum ALT levels were found in group D & E medicated at dose rate of 80 mg/kg of bodyweight & 1OOmg/kg of baody weight, respectively. High mortality rate occurred in treated groups; GroupD and Group E were 25% and 50%, respectively. Histopathological changes occurring in the liver of treatedgroups were observed in thestudy.Conclusion: It is concluded from this study that the degree of hepatotoxicity increases as the doxycyclinedose increases.This issupported both by biochemical derangement as well as histopathological study.Keywords: Doxycycline,AlanineAminotransf-erase (ALT), toxicity, rabbits