Abstract
Carnitine deficiency plays an important role in gentamicin (GM)-induced acute renal failure. This study investigates the effects of GM and L-carnitine on Long-chain fatty acid and carnitine transporters as well as exploring their effects on the balance between production and degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) components. A total of 40 male Wistar albino rats were used and divided into 4 groups. Control group-1 received I. P. injection of normal saline, group-2 were daily injected with GM, group-3 were given L-carnitine and group-4 received GM+L-carnitine. GM resulted in decrease in OCTN2, CPT I, MMP-9 and TIMP-3 and increase in MMP-2, TIMP-1, collagen type I and collagen type III gene expression. Administration of L-carnitine resulted in complete reversal of GM-induced alteration in genes expression to control values. GM inhibits OCTN2 and CPT-I mRNA expression in kidney tissues which may contributes to GM-induced acute nephropathy. Carnitine supplementation attenuates the GM-induced nephrotoxicity by a mechanism related to its ability to modulate the balance between MMP-9 and TIMP-1which determines the integrity of the extracellular matrix.