Physiological and Histological Effects of Linezolid on the Kidney and Stomach of Rats

Abstract

Linezolid is an oxazolidinone antibacterial agent for the treatment of resistant gram-positive infections. However, prolonged or high exposure to linezolid may cause mitochondrial toxicity and organ injury. This exploratory rat study aimed to assess biochemical and histological findings following exposure to treatment-dose and toxic-dose linezolid with emphasis on kidney and stomach tissues. The study involved 18 male rats, divided into 3 groups of 6 rats each. Group 1 was the treatment-dose linezolid group. Group 2 was the toxic-dose linezolid group. the remaining rats were used as a control group. The toxic-dose was 100 mg/kg/day for 14 days orally. Six animals were used as a control. Blood urea, serum creatinine, AST/SGOT, ALT/SGPT and alkaline phosphatase were presented as mean ± SD and hematoxylin-and-eosin-stained renal and gastric sections were interpreted descriptively. The treatment-dose group showed blood urea, serum creatinine, AST/SGOT, ALT/SGPT, and alkaline phosphatase values of 38.91 ± 4.15 mg/dL, 1.12 ± 0.18 mg/dL, 35.83 ± 12.16 U/L, 34.99 ± 10.87 U/L, and 59.83 ± 12.26 U/L, respectively. The toxic-dose group showed corresponding values of 30.74 ± 7.35 mg/dL, 1.05 ± 0.33 mg/dL, 34.09 ± 8.78 U/L, 39.81 ± 5.92 U/L, and 51.09 ± 10.73 U/L. Gastric sections showed mucosal necrosis, epithelial sloughing, glandular distortion, inflammatory infiltration, edema, and vascular congestion. Renal sections showed tubular degeneration, tubular dilatation, epithelial desquamation, interstitial inflammation, vascular congestion, and glomerular alterations. Histology evidence showed a significant damage in renal parameters and histopathological slides represented by gastric and renal tissue injury in the examined linezolid exposed sections of the current exploratory rat study and the damages were dose dependent as all of the damages were increased in the toxic dose however physiological parameters did show a toxic effect but these effects were not a dose dependent.