A HISTOLOGICAL STUDY OF TOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF IBUPROFEN ON THE CEREBRUM OF ADULT MALE WISTAR RATS

Chronic use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has been widely acknowledged to cause serious neurological and mental disorders, in the form of brain damage. Ibuprofen is one of the most commonly prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fever, mild to moderate pain and primary dysmenorrhoea. Due to its easy accessibility, abuse of the drug is very common, leading to its various side effects. Therefore, the present experiment was undertaken to determine the effects of an oral intake of ibuprofen on the cerebrum of adult male wistar rats. Sixteen (16) male wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups (A – B) of eight (8) rats each. Group A rats served as control and were given distilled water and group B fed 4 mg/kg body weight of ibuprofen for fourteen (14) consecutive days. Experimental animals were sacrificed on the 15th day by cervical dislocation. The cerebrum were collected after sacrifice and fixed in 10 % formol calcium and subsequently processed for histological observation using Hematoxylin and Eosin staining principle. The histological section of the control rat showed normal arrangement of the molecular layer with neuroglial cells, the external granular layer with granular cells and the external pyramidal layer with small and medium sized pyramidal cells. The cerebral section of ibuprofen treated rats showed disruption of normal arrangement of cell layers, severe degeneration of neurons and vacuolations of the cells of the cerebrum. The study revealed that ibuprofen intake caused deleterious effects on rat’s cerebrum which was evidenced in histological changes. It could be concluded that dioxin exposure causes neurotoxicity on cerebral cytoarchitecture, which could serve as basis for some cerebral lesions in individuals who abuse ibuprofen.