Background: there is not enough information available to assess the relationship between Pregabalin use and muscular damage. Also, the effect of pregabalin ibuprofen combination on musculature not well assessed till now.
Objectives: The study aimed to evaluate the possible chronic concomitant effect of both pregabalin and ibuprofen on skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscles in male albino rats.
Subjects and methods: One hundred adult healthy male albino rats weighting 200 – 250 gm were obtained from the animal house, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Egypt. The animals were classified into five groups: Group one (Negative control):10 male albino rats, received normal feeding, group two (Positive control): 15 male albino rats given 1 ml of distilled water, group three: 25 male albino rats were given pregabalin at dose 250 mg/kg/day orally (1/20 LD50), group four: 25 male albino rats were given ibuprofen at dose of 80 mg/kg/day orally (1/20 LD50), group five: 25 male albino rats were given ibuprofen at dose of 80 mg/kg/day and pregabalin at of dose 250 mg/kg/day. All animals were treated for three months.
Results: as regard weight of animals, there were statistically significant difference between positive control group versus Pregabalin, and pregabalin+ ibuprofen groups. Also histopathological examination showed that chronic use of pregabalin was associated with atrophy, inflammatory cells and cell degeneration of skeletal muscle.
Conclusion: The current study demonstrated that the chronic use of pregabalin was associated with atrophy, inflammatory cells and cell degeneration of skeletal muscle of male albino rats.