Curcumin a potential antagonist against paracetamol induced nephrotoxicity in rats

Abstract EN

Paracetamol can cause a life threating renal damage and there is no specific treatment for it.

Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the nepheroprotective effect of curcumin against paracetamol nephrotoxicity in rats through determination of kidney function parameters, minerals concentration, kidney lipid peroxidation and antioxidants.

To achieve this aim, seventy adult male albino rats were divided into equal seven groups as following, Group I served as control,Group II (corn oil treated group), Group III (curcumin200 mg/kg b.wt/orally), Group IV (Curcumin 400 mg/kg b.wt/orally), Group V served as positive control (Paracetamol 500 mg/kg b.wt/orally), Group VI (Curcumin 200 mg/kg b.wt and paracetamol 500 mg/kg b.wt/orally), and Group VII (Curcumin 400 mg/kg b.w and paracetamol 500 mg/kg b.w/orally).

At the end of experiment (after 30 days), blood and tissue samples were collected for biochemical, and histopathological analysis.

Renal toxicity and oxidative stress were observed in untreated paracetamol-intoxicated rats as there was significant increase in urea, creatinine, uric acid and sodium concentration with significant decrease in serum concentration of potassium, calcium, and phosphorus, moreover malondialdehyde (MDA) was significantly increased while, reduced glutathione (GSH) level and catalase (CAT) activity were decreased compared to control, in addition to congestion of the renal glomerular tuft and marked renal tubular degeneration in histopathological examination .

Administration of curcumin attenuated the detrimental effects of paracetamol in a dose-dependent manner via decrease of elevated kidney function biomarkers and correction of minerals concentration levels, decrease MDA level and increase in GSH level and CAT activity as well as induced amelioration in the histopathological damage.

The obtained results of this study revealed that curcumin showed protective effects against paracetamol-induced renal toxicity through its powerful antioxidant properties.