Abstract
Objective: the current work aims to find out whether glutathione has a protective role against hepatic and renal tissue toxicity induced by the use of azathioprine.Methods: A total of twenty-eight Wistar rats were assigned to 4 equal groups, the control group (I) was given distilled water. Azathioprine in a dose of 5mg/kg body weight was administered to group II. Group III received azathioprine 5mg/kg body weight with glutathione 100 mg/ kg body weight, the last group (IV) received glutathione alone 100 mg/ kg body weight. The treated groups were given the treatment by oral plastic gavage daily for 6 weeks. The liver and kidney of the animals were dissected and prepared for histological examination.Results: The obtained results indicated that in group II Liver sections showed steatohepatitis with marked Ballooning degeneration of the hepatocytes, Coagulative necrosis, focal inflammatory cells infiltration in the Portal triads with hyperplasia and hypertrophy of Kupffer cells. Renal sections of group II revealed vacuolar degeneration in the epithelial lining cells of renal tubules with focal lymphocytic inflammatory cells aggregation in renal parenchyma. dilatation of the Bowman's space with formation of renal cysts and necrosis of some glomeruli. In group III the histology of rats’ liver and kidney sections showed improvement of the histological lesions. In liver section, some necrotic hepatocytes with central veins congestion and slight inflammatory cells infiltration. The renal tissue slides revealed tubular necrotic epithelium with marked inflammatory cells infiltration.Conclusion: The current study concluded that azathioprine in a dose of 5mg/kg for 6 weeks can produce hepatic and renal cellular damage. Glutathione in a dose of 100mg/kg for 6 weeks can reduce this tissue damage.
