BENKHASSI Zoubair¹, LAHLOU Fatima Azzahra^1,, HMIMID Fouzia¹, LOUTFI Mohammed¹, BENAJI Brahim², BOURHIM Noureddine¹

Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) is among the most commonly used analgesic and antipyretic drugs worldwide, it’s often, but anomalously, classified as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in textbooks of pharmacology . This study aims to evaluate if paracetamol has an antioxidant effect, relative to its analgesic antipyretic and weak anti-inflammatory activities, or it possesses a cytotoxic potential. Oxidative stress was induced by intraperetoneal injection of peroxide hydrogen (H₂O₂), and then a comparative study is made concerning the activities of the antioxidant enzymes SOD, CAT, and GR as well as lipid peroxidation levels in liver. An increase in SOD, CAT, GR activity and lipid peroxidation in mice treated with H₂O₂ accompanied by paracetamol; compared to the group treated by vitamin C + H₂O₂ showed that acetaminophen doesn’t show any antioxidant effect. Moreover this study has suggested that acetaminophen induced cytotoxicity in liver mediated by increased oxidative stress and altered redox metabolism.

acetaminophen (paracetamol), peroxide hydrogen, oxidative stress