Effects of repeated doses of paracetamol administration during pregnancy on lung, kidney, and liver tissues of pregnant rats.

Objectives: Paracetamol is one of the most widely used analgesics and antipyretics in the world. It is the most commonly used analgesic and antipyretic agent in pregnancy. Paracetamol is known to have toxic effects on the liver, lung, and kidney. In this study, we investigated the effects of long-term chronic paracetamol exposure on the lung, liver, and kidney in newborn rats at different trimesters of pregnancy.

Methods: In our study, we formed control (group C), first trimester (group A), and third trimester (group B) groups. Group A had the first seven days of pregnancy and group B had days 15-21. Paracetamol was given orally during the specified periods. On the third postnatal day, pups were euthanized by applying 50 mg/kg ketamine intraperitoneally, and then lung, liver, and kidney tissues were kept under appropriate conditions for examination. A total of 70 pups underwent histopathological examination.

Results: The lung revealed congestion (p<0.0001), and erythrocytes (p<0.0001), the liver revealed significant histopathological findings in terms of the presence of inflammation (p<0.0001), vacuolar degeneration (p<0.0001), and sinusoidal dilatation in groups A and B compared to the control group under light microscopy. MDA and free radical metabolism enzyme activities, CAT, GSH, and SOD were evaluated. While there were no significant differences between the groups in lung and kidney tissues, oxidant parameters were significant in liver tissues.

Conclusion: Our data point out that subacute doses of paracetamol used chronically in different trimesters caused damage to the lung, liver, and kidney tissues of pups.