Pharmacological Effects of Dexamethasone in Rats

Abstract

Dexamethasone is one of the most widely used glucocorticoids which has a prominent glucocorticoid with

slight mineralocorticoid property. This study was performed on twenty four adult Sprague Dawley rats

to evaluate the proposed effects of dexamethasone offering as intraperitoneal injection. The animals were

allocated randomly into three groups of eight rats to each. The protocol of experiment was: the control group;

animals are injected intraperitoneally with 2ml of distilled water, the dexamethasone 1 group; animals are

injected intraperitoneally with dexamethasone 2mg/kg, and the dexamethasone 2 group; animals are injected

intraperitoneally with dexamethasone 4mg/kg. The injection period extended for one month. The results

illustrate that dexamethasone cause significant declination in RBC, PCV, Hb, HDL, and neutrophils besides

significant elevations in WBC, eosinophils, monocytes, LDL, TC, TG, VLDL, AST, ALT, and creatinine

on a direct positive proportion with the increase in dexamethasone dose comparing with control group at

(P?0.05).