• Gabriel Victor Guimarães Rapello, Andréia Antoniolli, Daniel Martins Pereira, Gilberto Facco, Paulo Manuel Pêgo-Fernandes, and Rogério Pazetti.
• Hospital Regional de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil.
• Sao Paulo Med J. 2015 Mar 1; 133 (2): 131134131-4.

Context And ObjectiveMethylphenidate is the most widely used drug for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, it has important side effects, such as abdominal pain, insomnia, anorexia and loss of appetite, and also some cases of early severe emphysema after drug abuse have been reported. Our aim was to investigate the development of pulmonary emphysema in rats that were subjected to different doses of methylphenidate.Design And SettingExperimental study carried out at the laboratory of a public university.MethodsEighteen male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: control (0.9% saline solution); MP 0.8 (methylphenidate, 0.8 mg/kg); MP 1.2 (methylphenidate, 1.2 mg/kg). After 90 days of daily gavage, the animals were sacrificed and lung tissue samples were prepared for analysis on the mean alveolar diameter (Lm).ResultsThe Lm was greater in MP 0.8 (47.91 ± 3.13; P < 0.01) and MP 1.2 (46.36 ± 4.39; P < 0.05) than in the control group (40.00 ± 3.48).ConclusionMethylphenidate caused an increase in the alveolar diameter of rats, which was compatible with human pulmonary emphysema.

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