Nephroprotective Effect of Asparagus africanus Lam. Root Extract against Gentamicin-Induced Nephrotoxicity in Swiss Albino Mice

Renal-protective effect of Asparagus officinalis aqueous extract against lead-induced nephrotoxicity mouse model

Lead is one of the cursed substances that threaten all human life. Lead poisoning can occur through food or water contaminations and it is hard to be detected. This incognito metal accumulates over time and resides in the liver, kidneys, and brain tissues leading to serious medical conditions, affecting organ functions, causing failure, kidney tubule degeneration, and destroying neuronal development. However, known metal chelators have bad negative effects. Asparagus officinalis (AO) is a promising herb; its root extract exhibited antioxidant, antiapoptotic, protective, and immunomodulatory activities. Inspired by those reasons, this study investigated to which extent Asparagus extract affected male mice's renal toxicity caused by lead acetate (LA) and antioxidant defense system. This work screened for its nephroprotective activity in four mouse groups: negative and positive control, LA group with renal injury, and diseased but pretreated mice with AO extract (AOE). Kidney index and kidney function biomarkers were evaluated. Antioxidant activities, lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), nitric oxide (NO), and reduced glutathione (GSH) were also tested. Furthermore, inflammatory cytokine (tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1 β (IL-1β), and the nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB)), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), renal pro-apoptotic protein (Bax), antiapoptotic protein (Bcl-2), and caspase-3 levels were evaluated. The results showed that LA administration induced oxidative stress, renal inflammation, apoptosis, and renal histopathological alteration. However, due to its antioxidant activities, AOE was found to restrain oxidative stress, therefore preventing inflammation and apoptosis. Collectively, AOE perfectly clogged lead poisoning sneaking, stopped the bad deterioration, and succeeded to protect kidney tissues from toxicity, inflammation, and apoptosis.

A review of therapeutic impacts of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) and its constituents

Application of herbal medicines in the treatment of diseases is in the center of attention of medical scientific societies. Saffron (Cricus sativus L.) is a medicinal plant belonging to the Iridaceae family with different therapeutic properties. The outcomes of human and animal experiments indicate that therapeutic impacts of saffron and its constituents, crocin, crocetin, and safranal, mainly are mediated via inhibiting the inflammatory reactions and scavenging free radicals. It has been suggested that saffron and crocin extracted from it also up-regulate the expression of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), down-regulate nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway and untimely improve the body organs dysfunction. Inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) also is attributed to crocin. The current review narrates the therapeutic effects of saffron and its constituents on various body systems through looking for the scientific databases including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar from the beginning of 2010 until the end of 2022.

Antioxidant activity of selected plants extract for palm oil stability via accelerated and deep frying study

Antioxidants are organic compounds that help to prevent lipid oxidation and improve the shelf-life of edible oils and fats. Currently, synthetic antioxidants were used as oil stabilizing agent. However, synthetic antioxidants have been causing various health risks. As a result, natural antioxidants such as most parts of olive plant, green tea, sesame, medicinal plants were plays an important role to retard lipid oxidation. The palm oil was continuously frying at 180 °C for 6 days using Lepidium sativum (0.2%w/v) and Aframomum corrorima (0.3%w/v) seeds extracts as antioxidant. The physicochemical properties of oil in the herbal extract additive group significantly maintained the oil quality during frying compared to the normal control and the food sample containing group. The L. sativum extract had a greater oil stability compared to A. corrorima extract. However, the frying oil without herbal extract significantly increase the physicochemical properties of oil such as iodine value, acid value, free fatty acid, total polar compounds, density, moisture content, pH etc. during repetitive frying. The antioxidant activity of the plant extract was outstanding, with an IC₅₀ value in the range of 75-149.9 μg/mL when compared to the standard butyl hydroxy anisole, which had an IC₅₀ value in the range of 74.9 ± 0.06-96.7 ± 0.75 μg/mL. The total phenolic and flavonoid content of the extract for L. sativum was 128.6 ± 0.00 mg GAE/g, 127.0 ± 0.00 mg QE/g, and 130.16 ± 0.001 mg GAE/g, 105.76 ± 0.02 mg QE/g, respectively. The significant effect of the plant extract on the degradation of oil and the formation of free fatty acids was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The result of these study revealed that the ethanolic crude extract of L. sativum and A. corrorima had a potential natural antioxidant to prevent the degradation of palm oil.

Crocus sativus L. Stigmas, Tepals, and Leaves Ameliorate Gentamicin-Induced Renal Toxicity: A Biochemical and Histopathological Study

The most costly spice in the world, Crocus sativus L. (C. sativus), has been used for more than 3,000 years. It has various beneficial applications in a range of fields, including aromas, colorants, and medications, but its usefulness as a food flavoring and coloring ingredient is the highest. Large quantities of by-products from the processing of saffron are typically thrown as unwanted bio-residues. This study's goal was to assess and compare the nephroprotective effects of hydroethanolic extracts of C. sativus stigmas, tepals, and leaves on gentamicin (GM)-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. For that, we used a biochemical and histological investigation to propose new pharmaceutical valorizations. Based on the biochemical and histological analyses, it is concluded that all the studied parts of C sativus showed a renoprotective effect. Markedly, tepals revealed the most significant reduction of relative liver weight (p < 0.05), water intake (p < 0.05), plasma creatinine (p < 0.01), plasma urea (p < 0.01), plasma uric acid (p < 0.05), urinary protein (p < 0.01) and albumin (p < 0.001), and renal malondialdehyde (MDA) (p < 0.001). In addition, C. sativus tepals caused a significant increase in body weight (p < 0.05), urinary creatinine (p < 0.01), creatinine clearance (p < 0.05), and urinary urea (p < 0.05) compared with the gentamicin untreated (GM) group. This is confirmed by the histopathological study which shows that treatment with stigmas, tepals, and leaves preserved kidney morphology at the glomerular and tubular cell level. The studied extracts exhibit good recovery potential for nephrotoxicity induced by gentamicin. In order to create potent dietary supplements or phytomedicines, it would also be very interesting to confirm these actions through clinical research.