Effects of Chronic Administration of Efavirenz on the Inferior Colliculus of Adult Wistar Rats

Efavirenz is used for highly active antiretroviral therapy for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type-1. We studied the effect of chronic administration of efavirenz on the inferior colliculus of adult Wistar rats. Rats of both sexes (n = 16) were randomly assigned into treatment (n = 8) and control (n = 8) groups. The treatment group received 600 mg/70 kg body weight of efavirenz dissolved in distilled water daily for 30 days through an orogastric tube, and controls received distilled water. The rats were sacrificed on the 31st day of the experiment. We found that treated rats had cellular degenerative changes such as a sparse cellular population, hypertrophy, microcystic changes, and vacuolation in the stroma of the inferior colliculus in treated rats compared with controls. Chronic administration of efavirenz may adversely affect the auditory system by affecting the microanatomy of the inferior colliculus of adult Wistar rats.