Background: Ritalin has properties similar to amphetamines and is therefore used arbitrarily. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of ritalin on liver histology and some liver enzymes in streptozotocin-safe and diabetic rats.
Methods: This experimental study was conducted in September 2012 at Islamic Azad University, Damghan Branch, Iran. In this research, 80 male rats were divided into 8 groups of 10 rats, which included: control group consisting of healthy rats and experimental groups 1, 2 and 3 (healthy+ritalin), which ritalin was taken as daily gavage 2.5 mg/kg, as well as control group (diabetic) and experimental group 4, 5 and 6 (diabetic+ritalin) after 2 months of diabetic ritalin at doses of 2.5 and 5 mg/kg as daily gavages up to 30 days. At the end of the prescribed day, the rats were anesthetized and after sampling from the heart, samples were taken from the liver and samples were delivered to the laboratory.
Results: Significant decrease in albumin levels of experimental groups compared to control group (P<0.05) and significant increase in aspartate transaminase and alanine aminotransferase enzymes in all experimental groups compared to control group was observed. The rat liver tissue study showed that rats that had been exposed to different doses of riatalin for 30 days, had fibrosis around the arteries (2+), moderate to weak fibrosis, and infiltration of inflammatory cells around the arteries. In experimental groups (diabetic+ritalin), hepatocyte columns have no regularity compared to control.
Conclusion: Oral consumption of ritalin caused a disturbance in the balance of liver enzymes and elevated serum albumin levels in healthy and diabetic rats. In the experimental groups (healthy ritalin) and (diabetic+ritalin), the higher the dose of the drug, the increased levels of liver enzymes as compared to the diabetic group. Severe degrees of tissue alteration are observed in the group (diabetic+ritalin). The texture of the tissue in the group (diabetic+ritalin) disappeared and appeared in the texture of the disintegration.
