Abstract
Aim: Drug combination studies are of keen interest, especially to the clinician who encounters patients with multiple disease symptoms. In our study, we tried to assess the toxic/beneficial effect of a prominent calcium channel blocker-Amlodipine, when administered with Levocetirizine-an antihistamine drug, in forced swim-induced stress model of Albino Wistar Rats.
Methodology: Animals were subjected to forced swim-induced stress (FSIS) for remodelling in heart followed by Amlodipine (3 mg/kg/day) and Levocetirizine (0.5 mg/kg/day) treatment. Biochemical parameters like serum alkaline phosphatase, alanine transaminase, triglyceride, uric acid, serum amylase, sodium, potassium, calcium and total protein were assessed in serum samples. The modulations in cellular architecture were studied by heart and liver histopathology.
Results: The overall alteration in alkaline phosphatase, alanine transaminase, triglyceride, and uric acid significantly demonstrated the protective role of this drug combination in the stress-induced remodelling of the heart. Elevated levels of alkaline phosphatase and alanine transaminase were observed in the single-drug therapeutic groups (P < 0.05). The combination therapy restored the biochemical parameters, revealing the synergistic effect. A similar trend of change was observed in the levels of amylase (P < 0.01). In support of the serological findings, our histopathology results revealed FSIS-Amlo Levo group demonstrated near to normal cellular architecture with less fat depositions when compared to FSIS-Amlo and FSIS-Levo.
Conclusion: The combination therapy of these drugs demonstrated a significant beneficial effect on stress-induced cardiac remodelling under the given set of conditions.