Abstract
Cyclosporine is considered one of the common worldwide immunosuppressive drugs that are used for allograft rejection prevention. However, articles that address adverse effects of cyclosporine use on the vital organs such as lung are still few. This study aims to investigate pulmonary toxic effect of cyclosporine in rats by assessment of pulmonary histopathological changes using light and electron microscope examination. Sixty male adult albino rats were divided into three groups; each group consists of twenty rats. The first received physiological saline while the second and third groups received 25 and 40 mg/kg/day of cyclosporine, respectively, by gastric gavage for forty-five days. Cyclosporine reduced the lung and body weight with shrinkage or pyknotic nucleus of pneumocyte type II, degeneration of alveoli and interalveolar septum beside microvilli on the alveolar surface, emphysema, inflammatory cellular infiltration, pulmonary blood vessels congestion, and increase of fibrous tissues in the interstitial tissues and around alveoli with negative Periodic Acid-Schiff staining. Prolonged use of cyclosporine induced pulmonary ultrastructural and histopathological changes with the lung and body weight reduction depending on its dose.
Highlights
Cyclosporine A (CsA) is considered one of the common immunosuppressive agents which are used during organ transplantation preventing allograft rejection and increasing the rates of patients’ survival and as a treatment for autoimmune diseases
The present study aims to investigate the toxic effect of cyclosporine on the lung tissues in rats via assessment of pulmonary histopathological changes by using light and electron microscope examination
The current study showed that lung and body weights are significantly decreased in the second group which received 25 mg/kg/day of cyclosporine in comparison with the control group while the lung and body weights of third group which received 40 mg/kg/day of cyclosporine showed a significant decrease in comparison with the second group; the lung/body weight ratio is affected
Summary
Cyclosporine A (CsA) is considered one of the common immunosuppressive agents which are used during organ transplantation preventing allograft rejection and increasing the rates of patients’ survival and as a treatment for autoimmune diseases. It is a cyclic endecapeptide whereas it is extracted from the fungus called Tolypocladium inflatum [1]. Other studies referred that oxidative damage may develop pulmonary disorders during systemic or local administration of cyclosporine; the safety of its use is still considered a controversial issue [3]. Organ transplantation such as a lung transplantation is a lifesaving procedure whereas the rate of its use is increasing in the different countries such as the United States and Japan and the rate of cyclosporine use is rising [4] the incidence risk of bronchogenic carcinoma and pulmonary fibrosis development with the use of cyclosporine A is ranging from 2 to 4% in some cases [5].
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