Mansour I. Almansour; Yazun B. Jarrar; Khalid A. Aloyaidy & Bashir M. Jarrar

Methotrexate (MTX) is widely used in the treatment of some forms of cancer but having severe side effects. The present work aimed to investigate the protective role of propolis treatment against alterations induced by MTX on the hepatic and renal tissues. Rabbits were exposed to MTX (0.25 mg/kg), with or without propolis (50 mg/kg) while hepatic and renal biopsies were examined for histological and histochemical abnormalities. Methotrexate induced hydropic degeneration, pyknosis, sinusoidal dilatation and bile duct hyperplasia in the liver together with renal tubular degeneration, glomerular shrinkage and hyaline droplet precipitation. While propolis partially ameliorated some of the morphometric and biochemical alterations, none of the hepatic alterations induced by MTX was protected by propolis treatment. Nevertheless glomerular shrinkage and renal tubule degeneration were partially protected in animals received both MTX plus propolis. It is concluded that propolis treatment has little or no ameliorative effect in protecting the hepatic and renal tissues from MTX toxicity.

KEY WORDS: Histological alterations; Kidney; Liver; Methotrexate toxicity; Propolis.

ALMANSOUR, M. I.; JARRAR, Y. B.; ALOYAIDY, K. A. & JARRAR, B. M. Ameliorative effect of propolis against hepatorenal alterations induced by methotrexate: morphohistopathological study. Int. J. Morphol., 35(2):756-764, 2017.