Investigating Effect of Fluoxetine Drug on the Liver Enzymes ALT, AST and ALK in Adult Female Wistar Rats

Introduction: Fluoxetine with the brand name of Prozac was introduced in the late 1980s. This antidepressant medication is one of the most prescribed medications in the world and millions of people around the world are willing to pay large sums for fluoxetine and similar drugs. Due to the heavy use of this drug and lack of attention to the probable reaction of the drug to the liver, it can be stated that the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of fluoxetine drug on the liver enzymes. Method: 40 female Wistar rats were divided randomly into 5 equal groups. The first group (control group) did not receive any medication. The second group (sham group) only injected distilled water. Experimental group 1 received 5 mg/kg fluoxetine daily, experimental group 2 also received 10 mg/kg fluoxetine and experimental group 3 received 20 mg/kg fluoxetine, based on body weight, intraperitoneally. At the end of 30 days, blood samples were taken from rats and serum concentration of ALT, AST and ALK were measured. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 18 and the results were expressed as shown in the table. Results: Concentration ofALT and AST in experimental groups 1, 2 and 3 that respectively received doses of minimum, average and maximum of drug, showed a significant increase compared to control group. Also, ALK concentration in experimental group 3 had significant increase compared to control group. Conclusion: The results show that use of fluoxetine drug causes increase of liver enzymes that indicate damage to liver tissue.

Fluoxetine, ALT, AST, ALK, rat