Evrim Suna Arikan Söylemez¹*, Zafer Söylemez¹, Abdülkadir Bilir², Emre Atay², İbrahim Halil Kenger³ and Tolga Ertekin²

¹Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University, Turkey
²Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey
³Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep Islam Science and Technology University, Gaziantep, Turkey

*Corresponding Author: Evrim Suna Arikan Söylemez, Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University, Turkey.

Received: October 25, 2024; Published:June 05, 2025

Abstract

Favipiravir (T-705) is a small molecule obtained through chemical modification of a pyrazine analogue originally developed in Japan against influenza virus. It is a potent inhibitor of influenza viral RNA polymerase and is effective against all subtypes and strains of influenza viruses. However, there is a risk of teratogenicity and embryotoxicity of favipiravir and therefore its use is approved under limited conditions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of favipiravir on kidney and liver during embryonic development based on genetic analyses. The mRNA levels of TLR4, NFKB1, TRPM2, IL-6, IL-1β and TNFα genes expressed in rat fetal kidney and liver tissues exposed to favipiravir at different doses were determined by Real-Time PCR method using Rotor-Gene Q. There were obvious changes in inflammatory processes and tissue damage in the liver and kidney tissues of the foetuses of pregnant rats treated with favipiravir compared to the control. We suggest that favipiravir may adversely affect the processes in the embryonic period, since there are significant changes in the expression levels of the related genes compared to the control, and different expression levels are observed in the kidney and liver tissues due to the nature of the tissue.

Keywords: Embryonel Development; Favipiravir; Gene Expression

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Citation

Citation: Evrim Suna Arikan Söylemez., et al. “Investigation of the Effects of Favipiravir Exposure on Kidney and Liver During the Embryonic Period: Genetic Analysis Study".Acta Scientific Gastrointestinal Disorders 8.7 (2025): 04-11.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2025 Evrim Suna Arikan Söylemez., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.