Influence of lithium treatment on pathological changes: an investigation on male Sprague–Dawley rat model

Autor: Vijayashree Raghavan, Thangavel Muthusamy, Geeva, Shoba Narayan
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Toxicology and Environmental Health Sciences. 13:37-44
ISSN: 2233-7784
2005-9752
DOI: 10.1007/s13530-020-00066-2
Popis: Mood disorder is a major disarray of the nervous system that affects the cognition and memory functions of the brain. Among many drugs and agents, lithium is widely used to manage mood disorder. In this study, lithium carbonate fed to male Sprague–Dawley rats and their toxic effects associated with their different organs (Brain, Kidney, Heart, Liver and Spleen) were studied. Forty-eight male Sprague–Dawley rats were used for the experiments, and 24 rats among them were fed with lithium carbonate (2 g/kg of body weight) for 6 weeks. The morphological and histopathological changes corresponding to lithium were evaluated by light microscopy in brain, kidney, liver, spleen and heart and by electron microscopy in brain. Administration of lithium carbonate along with rat chow did register therapeutic lithium levels, and changes in the brain lithium levels were also observed. Our results illustrated drastic changes in structures, size and shape of the brain, coupled with condensed nucleus, and swollen mitochondria and detached rough endoplasmic reticulum in lithium-fed rats were observed by transmission electron microscopy. The heart of lithium-fed rats showed separation of myocardial fibers. Brain, heart, kidney, liver and spleen showed increase in weight. Hepatocytes, sinusoidal congestions, changes in eosinophil granules in cytoplasm and lesser vacuolation were observed in lithium-fed rats. The explicit understanding of the lithium’s effects on the structural, morphological and cellular changes in rats can be a promising supplementary therapeutic strategy to subdue lithium’s toxicity effect on mood disorder patients under treatment of lithium. Based on the investigations carried out in this study, at a dosage of 2 g/kg body weight, lithium caused increase in anxiety-like behavior. This further led to neurobehavioral conditions and decreased locomotor activity. This study thus suggests that the effective dosage/delivery of lithium is critical in its usage as an anti-depressive agent.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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