Histopathological and Ultrastructural Effects of Long-Term Administration of Sildenafil Citrate (Viagra®) on Nasal Mucosa of the Adult Male Albino Rat

El-Hennawi, Diaa El Din Mohamed; Ahmed, Rifaat; El Tabbakh, Mohamed; Abdelrehem, Ahmed Salama; Dessouki, Amina Ali

doi:10.21608/scvmj.2023.232039.1141

Histopathological and Ultrastructural Effects of Long-Term Administration of Sildenafil Citrate (Viagra®) on Nasal Mucosa of the Adult Male Albino Rat

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine Suez Canal University, Ismailia - Egypt.

² Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

³ Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University- ENT Department, Police Hospital – Nasr City, Egypt.

⁴ Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

10.21608/scvmj.2023.232039.1141

Abstract

One of the five primary human senses is smell which provides an individual's ability to detect health hazards such as fire or toxic fumes. Sildenafil citrate (Viagra) is a drug approved for erectile dysfunction. At high doses, sildenafil causes mild visual symptoms and is toxic to the cochlea. In addition, approximately 20% of patients treated with sildenafil complained of nasal congestion and decreased olfactory sensitivity. The purpose of this study was to look at the effect of long-term sildenafil administration on the olfactory mucosa in rats. The animals were divided evenly into two groups of 15 each, every rat weighed 200-250g. The rats in the control group (group I) were given 0.5 ml of distilled water and rats in group II were given 10 mg sildenafil citrate /kg body weight dissolved in 0.5 ml of distilled water, respectively via Gastric tube once daily/every day for three months. After the end of the trial, rats were euthanized using pentobarbitone. After death was confirmed, nasal mucous membranes obtained from rats were fixed in 10% formalin solution for histopathological examination. Other sections were preserved in glutaraldehyde 2.5% for electron microscopy. The second group showed degeneration of the mucous membrane of the respiratory and olfactory tracts. In addition to congestion of the submucosal vessels, loss, and shortening of the olfactory cilia with degenerative changes were observed. Electron microscopy revealed the normal structure of group I. The olfactory surface of 100 mg of sildenafil revealed numerous olfactory vesicles with a rough surface and loss of ciliary surface along with loss of bipolarity of both cilia and dendrites.

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