Paracetamol-induced nephrotoxicity and oxidative stress in rats: the protective role of Nigella sativa

Abstract

Context Nigella sativa L. (Ranunculaceae) (NS) is traditionally used to treat many conditions such as inflammation.

Objective This study evaluates the effects of NS seeds ethanol extract in paracetamol-induced acute nephrotoxicity in rats.

Materials and methods Forty-eight female Wistar Albino rats were divided into eight groups: I = sham; II = sham + 1000 mg/kg NS; III = sham + 140 mg/kg (N-acetyl cysteine) NAC; IV = 2 g/kg paracetamol; V = 2 g/kg paracetamol + 140 mg/kg NAC; VI, VII and VIII = 2 g/kg paracetamol + 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg NS, respectively. Paracetamol administration (oral) was carried out 1 h after NS and NAC administrations (oral), and all animals were sacrificed 24 h later.

Results Paracetamol administration significantly increased serum urea (88.05 U/L) and creatinine (0.80 U/L) when compared with the sham group (49.80 and 0.31 U/L, respectively). However, serum urea level was reduced to 65.60, 56.00 and 54.18 U/L, with 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg doses of the extract, respectively. Also, serum creatinine level was reduced to 0.64, 0.57 and 0.52 U/L with 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg doses of the extract, respectively. NS administration increased superoxide dismutase and glutathione, and decreased malondialdehyde levels in the kidneys. Kidney histopathological examinations showed that NS administration antagonized paracetamol-induced kidney pathological damage.

Discussion and conclusions The results suggest NS has a significant nephroprotective activity on paracetamol-induced nephrotoxicity. It may be suggested that the antiinflammatory and antioxidant effects of NS ethanolic extract originated from different compounds of its black seeds.

Keywords:

• Glutathione
• kidney
• malondialdehyde
• superoxide dismutase

Acknowledgements

This research is included in Master's thesis of Dogukan Canayakin and was conducted in the Laboratory of Biochemistry, Laboratory of Pharmacology at Ataturk University, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine, 25240 Erzurum/Turkey. The second author (Y. Bayir) wishes to thank Professor Ahmet Cakir for his kind support in the study.

Disclosure statement

None of the authors has a commercial or financial interest or other relationship with the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, laboratory supplies and/or medical devices or with commercial providers of medically related services.

Funding information

This study was supported by the Research fund of Atatürk University (BAP-2012/077).