Curcumin Alleviates Thioacetamide-Induced Kidney Toxicity in Rats: Enhancing Antioxidant System, and Attenuating Oxidative Stress, DNA Damage, and Inflammation

Abstract

Thioacetamide (TAA), well-known as a toxic agent and has been reported to be nephrotoxic due to oxidative stress induction and proinflammatory markers increase. Curcumin has been shown in various studies to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This study aimed to investigate the ameliorative effect of curcumin against TAA-induced kidney toxicity in rats. In this study, 28 male albino rats were used, and kidney toxicity was induced by intraperitoneal injection of TAA at a dose of 200mg/kg, twice a week for 8 weeks then the rats were treated with curcumin at a dose of 200mg/kg, orally, daily for 2 weeks. Kidney functions in all the experimental groups as well as oxidative stress (MDA), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined. In addition, DNA damage and the expression status of both proinflammatory cytokine (TNFα) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were evaluated. Further, light microscopic studies were performed on kidney specimens. Our results demonstrated that TAA had a nephrotoxic effect, as evidenced by significantly increase in kidney functions as well as substantially increase in renal MDA associated with reduction in CAT and SOD antioxidant enzymes compared to control group. The administration of curcumin ameliorates the oxidative stress and upregulate the antioxidant parameters. Further, a signification increases in DNA damage, TNFα, and PCNA expression was seen in TAA-group which was then alleviated by curcumin treatment. In conclusion, the ameliorative effect of curcumin could be attributed to its ability to minimize oxidative stress, renal cell injury, and cytokine release.