Hepatotoxic effects of vincristine: an experimental study on albino rats

Vincristine (VCR) is an established drug of choice in treatment of some myelomas, lymphomas and leukemias. Hepatotoxicity is a lesser studied side effect of the drug. Samples of blood and other tissues were collected for morphological, biochemical and histopathological evaluation 2 and 24 hours after single intravenous administration of 1.0 mg/kg of VCR to male Albino Wistar rats. VCR produced weight loss; and elevated serum alkaline phosphatase (515.20 +/- 356.22, P < 0.05), SGPT (192.00 +/- 102.62, P < 0.05), and SGOT (574.20 +/- 292.16, P < 0.05) even after 24 hours of drug administration. Though these changes were most severe during the first 2 hours of VCR administration, they also persisted till 24 hours, which may suggest a possibility of an enterohepatic circulation of the drug or its metabolites. This was complemented with morphological disruption in hepatocytes on light and electron microscopy including scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.