Abstract

Meenakshi Sinha* and Deepak Kumar Dash

ABSTRACT

Renal ischemia is a principal source of acute renal failure and results in high rates of morbidity and fatality. Several natural products have been reported to have beneficial effects on ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, particularly from a preventative perspective. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the efficiency of capsaicin, a natural product derived from chili peppers on renal dysfunction and injury induced by I/R in rat kidney. Rats were subjected to renal ischemia by occluding both renal arteries for 60 min followed by 6 h reperfusion to induce renal injury. I/R injury was induced in rats alone or in combination with capsaicin at dose of 1.0 and 3.0 mg/kg with seven days pretreatment. Exposure to I/R injury cause renal function impairment as assessed by measuring blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine levels. Exposure to I/R injury decreased the activities of glutathione peroxidase and increased glutathione-S-transferase level in the kidneys of rats and increased apoptosis in renal cells as assessed from MTT assay. Capsaicin pretreatment significantly improved renal function, renal mitochondrial antioxidant status and secured cellular viability, thus demonstrating the protective effect in ischemic renal tissue in rats. Supplementation and/or treatment with capsaicin could exert protective effects against renal damage resulting from hypoxic and ischemic injury.