Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the possible postnatal ef
fects on the liver, kidney and testicular tissues of the offspring of rats
given diclofenac sodium (DS) during pregnancy. Methods:At the beginning of
the experiment, 80 rats (20 males and 60 females) were raised together for
mating purposes. At the end, 50 pregnant rats were obtained and used as the
experimental subjects. All pregnant rats were divided into 2 groups, each
with 25 rats. The rats of the control group received physiological serum, 1
cm(3)/kg live weight per day, and the rats of the treatment group were inj
ected with DS, 1 mg/kg live weight per day from the 5th to the 20th day of
pregnancy. Four weeks after birth, tissue samples were obtained under anest
hesia by perfusion fixation from a total of 40 offspring, 20 (10 males, 10
females) from the control group and 20 (10 males 10 females) from the DS gr
oup. Paraffin sections were dyed with hematoxylin eosin and examined under
light microscopy. Results: The gestation period was significantly prolonged
with DS-treated rats (p < 0.001). A moderate significant enlargement in th
e periportal area (p < 0.05), sinusoidal dilatation (p < 0.001), bile duct
proliferation (p < 0.001), pyknosis in the nucleus of hepatocytes, and vacu
olar degeneration in parenchymal cells (p < 0.001) were observed in DS-trea
ted rats. Morphological changes in the liver were found to be similar both
in female and male rats. Under light microscopy a similar morphological str
ucture was observed in the kidney and testicular tissues of both the DS-tre
ated and control rats. Conclusion: Significant morphological changes were o
bserved in the livers of the offspring whose parents had been treated with
DS. No significant differences were observed in liver morphology between th
e female and male offspring. There were no significant effects of DS on the
morphology of the kidney and testis in all offspring. Copyright (C) 2001 S
. Karger AG, Basel.