Effect of Tramadol Hydrocholoride on the Biomarkers of Liver and Kidney Function and Oxidative Stress in Male Albino Rats

Background: Tramadol is an opioid-like analgesic or pain-relieving agent, used parenterally and orally for the treating moderate or severe painful sensation. Because the drug is inexpensive and is not classified as control drug by the government, the authors attempt to establish the possible effect of tramadol (TM) hydrochloride on the biomarkers for liver and kidney function along with oxidative stress in male wistar albino rats was carried out to verify the likelihood of it translational correlation in human beings.

Methods: 32 male albino rats which were 16 weeks of age weighing 180g-200g were gotten from the National Vertinary Research Institutes (NVRI), Vom, Plateau state, Nigeria, used as parallel study design and divided into 4 groups of 8 animals each. Group 1; the normal control (NC) administered saline solution only. Group 2 ,3 and 4 received oral dose of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 mg/kg/b.wt tramadol hydrochloride (HCl) suspended in saline solution as low, mid and high dose respectively. All the animals were fed the same diets throughout the period of (12) weeks from October 2022-December 2022. The rats were allowed to fast overnight then blood samples were collected and analysed at Department of Vertinary Medicine Laboratory, University of Nigeria, NSUKKA, Enugu State Nigeria for the biochemical markers of liver function, kidney function and oxidative stress.

Results: The result obtained for liver function, showed a significant (p<0.05) increase in ALT in group 4, AST in group 3 and 4, ALP in group 4, T. Bilirubin in group 3, D. bilirubin in group 4 when compared to the control group. The kidney function result showed significant (p<0.05) increase in Na+ in group 3, Cl- in group 2 and HCO3 significantly (p<0.05) increased across all the test groups compared to the control, Urea increased significantly (p<0.05) in group 4, Creatinine concentration was high across all the test groups when compared to the control. Changes in antioxidant enzyme of catalase activity is significantly (p<0.05) reduced across the test groups compared to group 1. Similarly, the activities of superoxide dismutase decreased significantly (p<0.05) across all the test groups compared to the control group.

Conclusion: The outcome of this study revealed that tramadol HCl when ingested in high amounts can interfere with the normal functioning of the liver and kidney and cause oxidative stress.