چكيده لاتين :
Background: Amiodarone is a drug that is used for treatment of cardiac arrhythmia after cardiac ischemia.
This drug as ~ blocker decreases arrhythmia rate but it has many side effects on different tissues. Since there
are rare reports about changes of lacrimal glands, this research has been carried out to study the morphological
and ultrastructural changes of lacrimal gland cells after amiodarone administration. Methods: Male rabbits (n
== 14) were divided into control and experimental groups. Experimental group were intra peritoneally injected
with a daily single dose of 80 mg/kg amiodarone for two weeks. The control group only received normal
saline. At the end of the injection period, the two groups were anesthetized and perfused with Karnovskyיs
fixative. The lacrimal glands were removed, fixed and then prepared for light and electron microscopic
studies. Quantitative studies on lacrimal gland cell micrographs were performed by point counting method.
The results were statistically compared between the two groups. Results: Light microscopic observation
showed many secretory granules in the cytoplasm of the lacrimal gland cells, which were also seen in the
lumen of acini. Ultrastructure study of these cells showed the presence of inclusions in their cytoplasm with
homogenous and dense structure. In quantitative analysis, the volume fractions (Vv) of mitochondria and
nucleus to the cell showed no differences between the two groups but the Vv of euchromatin to the nucleus
was different (P<0.05). Conclusion: The presented results show adverse effects of amiodarone on rabbit
lacrimal gland cells. Iran. Biomed. J. 12 (2): 129-132, 2008
