[Steroid hepatopathy in cats after prednisolone use: laboratory, tomographic, and histopathologic aspects]

ABSTRACT Glucocorticoids are widely used medications in small animal practice; however, its continuous use can have side effects. Cats are considered less susceptible than other species, however, the literature does not usually address adverse effects in felines. The objective of this study was to evaluate possible laboratory and histopathologic changes, as well as changes to the degree of radiographic attenuation of the hepatic parenchyma in cats treated with prednisolone. A clinical trial was done in four healthy cats, who received prednisolone orally at 3mg/kg during 60 consecutive days. In the histopathologic findings at 60 days of treatment, there were disorganized hepatocyte chords and vacuolar degeneration, as well as hepatocyte necrosis, however, there were no signs of fibrosis in the hepatic parenchyma. Data obtained via computed tomography showed increase of the degree of attenuation in the hepatic parenchyma from day 30 of prednisolone therapy, which persisted until the end of the experiment. In the present study, it was possible to characterize the existence of steroidal hepathopathy in cats in the early stages of prednisolone therapy.摘要：糖皮质激素（glucocorticoids）是小动物临床诊疗领域广泛应用的药物，但长期持续使用可引发不良反应。相较于其他物种，猫被认为对糖皮质激素的不良反应不易感，但现有文献通常未针对猫的此类不良反应展开相关研究。本研究旨在评估经泼尼松龙（prednisolone）治疗的猫可能出现的实验室检查异常、组织病理学改变，以及肝实质（hepatic parenchyma）影像学衰减程度的变化情况。本研究针对4只健康猫开展临床试验，以3mg/kg的剂量连续60天经口给予泼尼松龙。治疗60天时的组织病理学检查结果显示，肝细胞索排列紊乱、出现空泡变性及肝细胞坏死，但肝实质未观察到纤维化征象。计算机断层扫描（computed tomography）所得数据显示，自泼尼松龙治疗第30天起，猫肝实质的密度衰减程度即出现升高，且该变化持续至实验结束。本研究明确了泼尼松龙治疗早期的猫即可出现类固醇性肝病（steroidal hepatopathy）。