Abstract

Studies’ reports in both humans and experimental animals have supported the use of methionine as an effective antidote to counteract the manifestation of hepatotoxicity, which is a common occurrence of acetaminophen at overdose levels of exposure. This study was embarked on to test the hepatoprotective effect of methionine in acetaminophen tablets, produced by a leading paracetamol brand in Nigeria especially in ameliorating the hepatocellular damage for which acetaminophen is noted for. Ten percent methionine was detected in this formulation using HPLC technique. Twenty male Wistar rats were used for this purpose, they were divided equally into four groups, and the first group served as the control and received 2 ml of physiologic saline per rat. The other three groups served as the test groups and received 100, 350 and 1000 mg\kg BW of acetaminophen dissolved in 2 ml of physiologic saline per rat. The drug was introduced into the rats by intra-peritoneal route of administration. The study lasted for 48 h after which the animals were sacrificed and blood obtained by cardiac puncture. Results showed that all these hepatotoxic indices and liver function tests (aspartate and alanine amino transferases, alkaline phoshatase, total and conjugated bilirubin, total proteins, albumin and globulins) of rats in both 350 and 1000 mg\kg levels were not statistically different compared to the controls (p > 0.05). The rats in the 100 mg\kg set showed the same pattern except that total proteins and globulins were statistically increased in these rats compared to controls (p < 0.05). These results therefore, show that methionine containing acetaminophen in tablet form ameliorated the toxic effects of acetaminophen even at toxic level of 1000 mg\kg level BW.

Key words: Hepatocellular damage, male Wistar rats, acetaminophen formulation.