ABSTRACT
Background: Gentamicin is widely used as an antibiotic for the treatment of gram negative infections.Evidences indicates that oxidative stress is involved in gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity. In Ayurvedicmedicine, Punica granatum Linn. is considered as 'a pharmacy unto itself”. It has been claimed intraditional literature, to treat various kidney ailments due to its antioxidant potential.Objective: To explore the possible mechanism of action of methanolic extract of P. granatum leaves(MPGL) in exerting a protective effect on gentamicin-induced nephropathy.Material and methods: Animals were administered with gentamicin (80 mg/kg/day i.m.) and simultaneously with MPGL (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg p.o.) or metformin (100 mg/kg p.o.) for 8 days. A satellitegroup was employed in order to check for reversibility of nephrotoxic effects post discontinuation ofgentamicin administration. At the end of the study, all the rats were sacrificed and serumeurine parameters were investigated. Antioxidant enzymes and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) levels weredetermined in the kidney tissues along with histopathological examination of kidneys.Results: Increase in serum creatinine, urea, TNF-a, lipid peroxidation along with fall in the antioxidantenzymes activity and degeneration of tubules, arterioles as revealed by histopathological examinationconfirmed the manifestation of nephrotoxicity caused due to gentamicin. Simultaneous administration ofMPGL and gentamicin protected kidneys against nephrotoxic effects of gentamicin as evidenced fromnormalization of renal function parameters and amelioration of histopathological changes.Conclusion: Data suggests that MPGL attenuated oxidative stress associated renal injury by preservingantioxidant enzymes, reducing lipid peroxidation and inhibiting inflammatory mediators such as TNF-a.© 2017 Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore and World Ayurveda Foundation. Publishing Services byElsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
ABSTRACT
Background: Generation of reactive oxygen species together with paucity of antioxidant defense is considered as an important cause for dopaminergic neuronal death. Review of literature indicates that none of the drugs so far studied for preventing the PD were found to be promising for use. Therefore, the present study was planned to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of Paeonia emodi Wall (PEW) in 6-hydroxy dopamine induced Parkinson’s disease (PD) model.Methods: The study was conducted on Wistar rats where Parkinson’s disease was induced by producing the striatal 6-hydroxy dopamine lesions. The test animals received ethanolic extract of PEW at dose of 200 and 300mg/kg for 28 days. Circling behavior, spontaneous locomotor activity, muscular coordination and akinesia were studied. Antioxidant levels were assessed by biochemical estimation and histopathology was carried out for dopaminergic neuronal loss.Results: PEW ethanolic extract showed significant dose dependent recovery in number of circlings, line crossing, muscular coordination and akinesia. A significant increase in MDA levels and decreased GSH level in PEW treated groups was observed in test groups as compared to control group (p<0.05). Normal architecture was retained only in PEW 300mg/Kg (p<0.05). L-Dopa did not showed effect on biochemical and histological parameters.Conclusions: The ethanolic extract of PEW showed neuroprotective activity against 6-hydroxy dopamine induced Parkinson’s disease in rats in both 200 and 300mg/kg doses. The protective action of PEW in PD can be because of its ability to reduce the oxidative stress.