Abstract
Adriamycin (ADR) is an effective anthracycline chemotherapeutic agent clinically used for treatment of several types of haematological malignancy and solid tumour. However, the risk of cardiac, renal, pulmonary, testicular, and hematological toxicities largely limits its effective and widespread use in clinical oncology. Hibiscus sabdariffa L. has shown to possess powerful antioxidant properties. This study aimed to investigate the impact of Hibiscus sabdariffa extract (HSE) on ADR-induced nephrotoxicity in male rats. There were four study groups i.e. control, ADR (10 mg/kg), and HSE+ADR groups (500 and 750 mg/kg), where rats received HSE for 1 week before ADR injection. After 14 days from ADR injection, serum was separation for determination of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine. Renal tissues were subjected to determination of malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) contents, as well as examined microscopically. Results revealed that ADR induced significantly increased BUN, creatinine concentrations and renal content of MDA, with significantly decreased renal GPx levels as compared with control rats. Pretreatment of ADR-treated rats with HSE resulted in a significant improvement in tested kidney functions, as well as normalize renal contents of MDA and GPx. Histopathological examination of kidney sections revealed that, ADR caused many renal injury, while HSE pretreatment showed either slight congestion of glomerular tuft or no histopathological change at the high dose of HSE. These results suggested that, HSE is effective in ameliorated ADR-induced nephrotoxicity in male rats, thus may represent a promising new protective strategy against chemotherapy drugs. Therefore, it could be used in therapy and management of nephrotoxicity due to its antioxidant properties.