Assessment of the hepatic and renal effects of sub-chronic administration of sub-lethal doses of amitraz/xylene in albino Wistar rats

The toxicological effects of increasing doses of amitraz on the liver and kidney of animals treated with it need to be assessed as a recent trend in development of resistance by pests may lead to increasing the quantity of amitraz required to control them. Forty adult male rats 170 ± 10 g assigned using simple random sampling method into four groups were used for the study. Groups A, B, and C were treated daily with 10.0, 2.0 and 0.4 mg/kg body weight, bw of amitraz respectively while group D (control group) was treated with 10 ml/kg bw water. The treatment was done daily using the oral route for 84 days. Parameters assessed were alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (AP), total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), total bilirubin (TB), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (CR), and histology of the liver and kidney. The mean TB, AP, and ALT of rats in group A was higher (p < 0.05) than that of groups B, C, and D on day 56 of the experiment. The mean TP and ALB of rats in groups C and D were higher (p < 0.05) than that of group A between day 28 and the end of the experiment. Sections of the liver from rats in group A showed moderate vacuolar degeneration of the periportal hepatocytes, while sections of the kidney obtained from rats in group A showed a widespread, mild to moderate tubular degeneration which involved the pars recta, proximal convoluted tubules and collecting ducts. The kidney and liver sections obtained from rats in group B, C, and D did not reveal any visible lesions.