WHEAT GERM OIL ATTENUATES CYCLOSPORIN A-INDUCED RENAL INJURY VIA INHIBITION OF ROS, INOS, AND NF-?B EXPRESSION

Amany Balah*

ABSTRACT

Cyclosporine A (CsA) is one of the most efficient immunosuppressive drugs that are widely used in organ transplantation. However, its clinical use is strongly limited by acute and chronic nephrotoxicity. One of the possible mechanisms of CsA-induced nephrotoxicity is thought to be reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. The present work was designed to investigate the potential protective effect of wheat germ oil (WGO) as antioxidant on CsA-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. It was found that treatment of rats with CsA alone significantly increased the levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine. In addition, CsA has also reduced the renal content of reduced glutathione (GSH), as well as the renal enzymatic activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). Furthermore, these effects were associated with an increase in lipid peroxidation, inducible NO-synthase (iNOS) and nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-B) expression. Moreover, histopathological examination showed severe damage of the renal tissue in animals treated with CsA alone. Most interestingly, concomitant administration of WGO along with CsA ameliorated all these negative effects. Furthermore, the immunosuppressive effect of CsA was not affected by WGO. Collectively, this study demonstrates that WGO markedly attenuated CsA-induced renal injury and improved renal function via inhibition of ROS, iNOS and NF-B expression.

Keywords: Cyclosporin A, Wheat germ oil, Nephrotoxicity, ROS, NF-?B, iNOS.