Effects of Chronic Administration of Efavirenz on the Body and Brain Weights of Adult Wistar Rats

Abstract

The effects of chronic administration of Efavirenz commonly used as part of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for the treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) type-1 on the body and brain weights of adult Wistar rats were carefully studied. The rats of both sexes (n=16), with the average weight of 200g were randomly assigned into treatment (n=8) and control (n=8) groups. The rats in the treatment group received 8.57mg/kg bogy weight of Efavirenz dissolved in distilled water daily for 30 days (thirty days) through the orogastric tube. The control group received equal volume of distilled water daily for 30 days through the same route. The rats were fed with grower's mash obtained from Edo Feeds and Flour Mill Limited, Ewu, Edo state, Nigeria and given water liberally. The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation method on the thirty-first day of the experiment. The brains were carefully dissected out, dried and weighed using the Mettler Toledo weighing balance. The body weights were taken before and during the period of treatment using the weighing balance. The findings indicate that there was a steady increase in the body weight during the period of acclimatization and before the treatment. During treatment, the control animals continue to increase in body weight, while that of the treatment group showed decrease in body weight that was statistically significant (P< 0.05) when compared with the control group. There was also a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in the dry brain weight and a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the relative dry brain weight of the treated group as compared to the control group in this experiment.