AMINOTRANSFERASE ACTIVITY IN SERUM, LIVER AND HEART TISSUE OF RATS EXPOSED TO THEOBROMINE

SUMMARY
Objectives: To find out the effect of theobromine on aminotransferase enzyme activities in serum, heart and liver in rats
Methods: Theobromine in two doses was administered by oral gavage to albino Wistar rats (n=8 for each group) for four day period and both albino aminotransferase(AST) and aspartate aminotransferase(ALT) enzyme activities were measures in serum, heart and liver tissues Control group (n=8) was administered only vehicle and enzyme activities were measured. Serum AST:ALT ratios were also computed for all the groups.
Results: Theobromine administration in moderate (600mg/kg body weight) to high (700 mg/kg body weights) doses induced a highly significant (p<0.001) time and dose dependent increase in aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities of the serum and heart tissue, but not of the liver. Similarly, the alanine aminotransferase activities of theobromine treated animals were significantly higher (p<0.01) for the heart, and (p<0.005) for the serum compared with their respective controls at 700mg/kg body weight. There were no changes in the ALT activities in the liver tissue. The computed AST:ALT ratio for the theobromine treatment group showed an increase with values of 1.93 and 2.01 for the 600mg/kg and 700mg/kg theobromine dose regimens respectively, compared with the control value of 1.37.
Conclusion: Theobromine toxicity appears to be heart directed
KEYWORDS: Theobromine, aminotranferase activity, liver, heart, serum