Sub-Chronic Administration of Tramadol, Caffeinated Drink and Alcohol Precipitated Dysfunctions in Health Indices of Male Wistar Rats
E. B. Oyewo *
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria.
J. B. Oso
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biosciences, McPherson University, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria.
J. O. Fatoki
Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Osun State University, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria.
A. L. Adedeji
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria.
G. E. Adeleke
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Tramadol is a popular drug of abuse among adolescent and young adults in many developing African countries due to the opioid agonist properties. We investigated the health implications of the sub-chronic concurrent abuse of tramadol, caffeinated drink and alcohol in adult male Wistar rats. Tramadol was administered at 40 and 20 mg/kg BW respectively, caffeinated drink at 10 ml/kg BW and alcohol at 2 ml/kg BW. The rats were handled such that: group A received distilled water; groups B and C received tramadol and distilled water; groups D and E received tramadol and caffeinated drink; groups F and Greceived tramadol and alcohol; and groups H and I received caffeinated drink and alcohol respectively. The concentrations of nitric oxide (NO), reduced glutathione (GSH),malondialdehyde (MDA),protein carbonyl (PC),protein thiol (PT), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), oxidized low density lipoprotein cholesterol (ox-LDLC), and activities of paraoxonase (PON-1) and acetylcholine esterase (ACE) were determined. Histo-pathological analysis was performed on the liver, kidney, brain and small intestine. The concentrations of blood nitric oxide, GSH and MDA increased (p<0.05) inconsistently with no alterationsin PC (p>0.05). Inconsistent alterations were obtained in blood PON-1 activities across the groups. Decreases were recorded in the GSH and TPT in the liver and brain with increases in PC and MDA (p<0.05). Inconsistent increases were obtained in the concentrations ox-LDLC, VCAM-1, IL-1β and MCP-1, and ACE activities. Consistent alterations were observed in the photomicrographs of the brain, kidney, intestine and liver of rats co-administered 40 mg/kg BW of tramadol withcaffeinated drink or alcohol. The overall findings indicated that the use of tramadol singly at 40 mg/kg BW or co-administered at both doses with caffeinated drink and alcohol precipitated various dysfunctions to health that could reduce the quality of life.
Keywords: Tramadol, caffeinated drink, alcohol, drug of abuse, health dysfunctions