Premature Age Changes Associated with Cimetidine Treatment: A Histological Study

Abstract

Cimetidine is histamine H2 receptor antagonist, its main clinical use is as an inhibitor of gastric acid secretion. For this study 12 (6 months old) female rabbits were used in this experiment. The rabbits were divided into four groups, three rabbits each.; viz:G1 received therapeutic dose of the drug (55.5 mg); G 2 received double therapeutic dose; G 3 received triple therapeutic dose; the fourth group served as a control. The injection was given twice daily for four weeks. The parotid glands were removed, fixed in neutral buffered formalin and processed for paraffin embedding. The sections were stained with haematoxyline and eosin, one step trichrome, and PAS stains Histometric evaluations of diameter of secretory end pieces were conducted. Data, expressed as means ± SEM, were analyzed by ANOVA and multiple comparison tests. Probability less than 0.05 is considered significant. In cimetidine treated rabbits the pronounced observations in the parotid gland were the decrease in the diameter of the acini ; increase in the connective tissue fibers; lymphocytic infiltration; increase in the amount of fat. The accumulation of fat cells and connective tissue fibers was considered as premature age changes in the gland. Fat deposition and fibrosis seen in cimetidine treated group may be related to parenchymal destruction caused by lymphocytic infiltrations. Our histological findings have demonstrated that the use of cimetidine has an inhibitory action on the activity and nature of saliva synthesized by the parotid glands in rabbits