PARACETAMOL HEPATOTOXICITY

Abstract

Paracetamol has been marketed since the 1950s, being a drug widely accessible to the population because it does not need a medical prescription, is low cost and widely distributed, in addition to presenting medium analgesia, high antipyretic action and low antipyretic action. inflammatory effect compared to other drugs of the same class. Although it is considered safe in therapeutic doses, overdoses can cause severe liver damage. In this context, the present review aims to highlight the main factors that predispose paracetamol hepatotoxicity, as well as to show its mechanisms of hepatotoxicity. It is understood that paracetamol is one of the drugs most used indiscriminately by the world's population, resulting in high rates of self-medication. Thus, this drug, in high and repeated doses, plays a toxic role in the body, as can be seen through in vitro experiments, which attested to its potential for glutathione depletion, which disables the body from carrying out detoxification. Given this, as the liver is the main organ that metabolizes paracetamol, overdose of such a drug causes liver damage in three ways, such as overdose, CYP450 oxidation and hepatocyte depletion. However, it is observed that overdose is the most common toxicity factor due to recurrent poisoning, since it does not exclude a specific age group, affecting both children and the elderly.