Enzymatic and metabolic alterations as an early predictor of a potential piroxicam-induced hepatorenal toxicity: a possible protective role for the calcium antagonist diltiazem

ABSTRACT

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of piroxicam administration on the enzymatic and the metabolic functions of the liver and kidneys in order to evaluate the effect of diltiazem administration on any piroxicam-induced hepatorenal toxic events. 120 rats were used in the study. They were divided into 4 major groups of 30 rats each. Piroxicam was given orally in a dose of 10 mg/kg [group 1] and diltiazem was given in a dose of 50 mg/kg [group 2]. Group 3 received a combination of both drugs and group 4 served as controls. The data obtained revealed that, piroxicam can induce hepatic and/or renal toxic effects on repeated administration and diltiazem may be able to protect against such toxic events if used with piroxicam in medical treatment of patients