Investigation of s-adenosyl methionine (SAM) efficacy in methotrexate (MTX) induced liver injury

How methylation levels change in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases is gaining importance day by day. In this study, it was aimed to determine the efficacy of SAM supplementation on liver histology and oxidative stress markers in animal models of liver damage caused by MTX. The study was conducted on a total of 15 male rats. Rats were divided into 3 groups called control, MTX and MTX+SAM with 5 rats in each group. At the beginning of the study, 50mg/kg SAM was given prophylactically to the MTX+SAM group for 7 days. On the 8th day of the study, modeling was done by giving 20mg/kg methotrexate intraperitoneally to the MTX+SAM group and the MTX group. Between the 9th and 22nd days, 50mg/kg SAM was given orally once a day to the MTX+SAM group, while the MTX group was given oral serum once a day. The study was terminated on day 23. As a result of the study, there was a statistically significant decrease in ALT value (p<0.05) in the MTX+SAM group compared to the MTX group; There was no significant change in BUN and creatinine values (p˃0,05). It was shown that there was a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the MTX+SAM group in the MDA determination performed on serum and liver tissue compared to the other groups. As a result of histological examinations, improvement in liver histology and a significant decrease in fibrosis scores (p<0.01) were found in the MTX+SAM group. There was no difference between the groups on kidney histology. In conclusion, it was concluded that while SAM supplementation had a positive effect on liver functions and histology, it did not make a difference in terms of kidney functions. In the future, it is recommended to conduct long-term human and animal studies in which the metabolic pathways affected by SAM supplementation are examined in detail.