الفهرس 
INTRODUCTION
Paracetamol -induced hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicityOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The protective role of some antioxidants against paracetamol-induced hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity in Western rats was explored. The number of rats used in this study was 115.5 rats were used as a control. The rest of rats was divided into groups (5 rats each). The experiment was done in two sets. In the first one, one group was treated with 2.5 g/kg paracetamol as a single oral dose, other groups, some were submitted to the following antioxidants orally 1 hour before or 24 hours after paracetamol administration and some were submitted for antioxidants alone. The antioxidants used: N-acetylcysteine (1.5 g/kg), vitamin C (500 mg/kg), vitamin E (250 mg/kg), selenium (0.5 mg/kg).
In the second set, one group was treated with oral 750 mg/kg/day paracetamol for 7 days, other groups, some were treated orally with paracetamol concomitant with antioxidants (N-acetylcysteine 500 mg/kg/day), (vitamin C 50 mg/kg/day), (vitamin E 25 mg/kg/day) or selenium (0.1 mg/kg/day) for 7 days, and some were submitted to antioxidants alone for 7 days.
Histopathological examination of liver and kidney tissues in first set revealed that the group which has been taken paracetamol alone showed massive and centrilobular necrosis and pronounced diffuse vacuolation of the liver tissue. The kidney tissue showed cloudy swelling of the proximal convoluted tubules and vacuolar degeneration of distal convoluted tubules and vacuolar degeneration of distal convoluted tubules with juxta cortical congestion. The other groups which were treated with antioxidants used 1 hour before paracetamol administration showed complete restoration of normal structure of liver and kidney tissues with less protective effect observed with selenium, whereas animals treated with antioxidants used 24 hours after paracetamol administration showed only slight improvement of the changes induced by paracetamol except N-acetylcysteine which provided marked improvement.