THE EFFECTS OF MONTELEUKAST AND HYDROCORTISONE ON THE HISTOLOGY OF HEART,LUNGS AND AORTA OF THE ASTHMA INDUCED SPRAGUE DAWLEY RATS

ABSTRACT

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder which arises from not fully understood heterogenic gene-environment interactions and features variable airway obstruction and bronchial hyper-responsiveness of which recurrent episodes of wheeze, cough,chest tightness, and shortness of breath are exhibited by asthmatics (Mims, 2015).This study involved the use of female Sprague-Dawley rats. Montelukast is a leukotriene receptor antagonist. Leukotrienes are inflammatory mediators in the body, particularly in the respiratory system, Hydrocortisone is a corticosteroid medication. Corticosteroids are powerful anti-inflammatory drugs that mimic the effects of hormones produced naturally by the adrenal glands. They all received proper animal care in line with international guidelines for experimental animal handling. Ethical approval obtained from the College of Medical Sciences ethics board.The Sprague-Dawley rats was housed in a clean, cool and sterile environment at 22°C room temperature, they were kept in cages, where they hadaccess to food and water as often or necessary (ad libitum) throughout the period of the experimental process. All test groups were induced with asthma following the modified guideline outlined by (Bai et al., 2019; Wu et al., 2019). All experimental groups (2,3 and 4) were sensitized with 1 mg of OVA and 200 mg aluminum hydroxide dissolved in 0.9 saline on day 0 and 7, challenged with OVA (1 % w/v,adsorbed in 0.9 saline) twice weekly from day 7 of treatment until the last day.For the challenge, the rats were placed in a plastic chamber measuring 70 cm in diameter and 40 cm in length connected to a Medel family nebulizer. In this study, we investigated the effects of Montelukast and Hydrocortisone on the histology of the heart,lungs,and aorta in asthma-induced Sprague Dawley rats. The results obtained provide valuable insights into the specific impacts of these two pharmacological agents on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems in the context of asthma.