Anti‐inflammatory and protective effects of saffron extract in ischaemia/reperfusion‐induced acute kidney injury

• Published in: Nephrology (Carlton, Vic.) Vic.), 2017-10, Vol.22 (10), p.748-754
• Main Authors: Mahmoudzadeh, Leila, Najafi, Houshang, Ashtiyani, Saeed Changizi, Yarijani, Zeynab Mohamadi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute Kidney Injury - genetics; Acute Kidney Injury - metabolism; Acute Kidney Injury - pathology; Acute Kidney Injury - prevention & control; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - isolation & purification; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - pharmacology; Antioxidants; Antioxidants - isolation & purification; Antioxidants - pharmacology; Biomarkers - blood; Blood Urea Nitrogen; Cell adhesion; Chemotaxis, Leukocyte - drug effects; Creatinine; Creatinine - blood; Crocus - chemistry; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Gene expression; ICAM‐1; Inflammation; Inflammation Mediators - metabolism; Intercellular adhesion molecule 1; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 - genetics; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 - metabolism; ischaemia/reperfusion; Ischemia; Kidney - drug effects; Kidney - metabolism; Kidney - pathology; Kidneys; Male; Malondialdehyde; Metastases; Oxidative stress; Oxidative Stress - drug effects; Phytotherapy; Plant Extracts - isolation & purification; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Plants, Medicinal; Rats, Wistar; Reperfusion; Reperfusion Injury - genetics; Reperfusion Injury - metabolism; Reperfusion Injury - pathology; Reperfusion Injury - prevention & control; Rodents; saffron; Statistical analysis; Thiobarbituric acid; Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances - metabolism; TNF‐α; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - genetics; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - metabolism; Tumors; Urea
• ISSN: 1320-5358; 1440-1797
• DOI: 10.1111/nep.12849

Aim Inflammation is one of the major challenges in the management of ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R)‐induced acute kidney injury. Our aim was to assess the anti‐inflammatory and protective effects of saffron extract against I/R‐induced renal disturbances. Methods A total of 35 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups (n = 7) as sham, I/R and three groups of I/R that were pretreated with different doses of saffron extract (5 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg, or 20 mg/kg) intraperitoneally. The I/R‐induced renal inflammation was assessed by measuring leukocyte infiltration and mRNA expression levels of intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 and tumour necrotic factor‐alpha. For the assessment of oxidative stress, thiobarbituric acid reactive species and antioxidant capacity of kidneys were measured in the right kidneys. In addition, plasma creatinine and urea‐nitrogen concentrations were determined for renal functional disturbances. Statistical analysis was performed using one‐way analysis of variance using the Duncan post hoc test. Results The I/R increased all of the measured parameters, except for the tissue level of ferric reducing/antioxidant power, which decreased. Pretreatment with saffron extract in all doses significantly reduced the severity of these disturbances in such a way that there were no significant differences between the FRAP level and urea‐nitrogen concentrations between the sham and all three saffron extract‐treated groups. However, the saffron extract could decrease the plasma creatinine concentration, malondialdehyde level, tumour necrotic factor‐alpha and intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 expression and leukocyte infiltration in a dose‐dependent manner. Conclusion The present study showed anti‐inflammatory, anti‐oxidative and protective effects for the hydro‐ethanolic extract of saffron in I/R‐induced acute kidney injury. Summary at a Glance Ischaemia/reperfusion is one of the most common causes of acute kidney injury, while acute kidney injury occurs in 5% of hospitalized patients and 30–50% of admissions to the intensive care unit. This paper tried to assess probable anti‐inflammatory and protective effects of saffron extract against ischaemia/reperfusion‐induced acute kidney injury.