Fruit juice of silverberry (Elaeagnus) and bayberry (Myrica) may help in combating against kidney dysfunctions

Abstract

BackgroundElaeagnus pyriformis, Myrica nagi and Myrica esculenta are prominent actinorhizal plants of North-East India which produce juicy edible fruits. Native people of this region consume these fruits for nutritional enhancement. Apart from having immense nutritional value, fruits of these plants have been utilized in traditional medicine for providing protection against various ailments. In our previous study on antioxidant activity and phytochemical fingerprints using GC-MS method; many medicinally potent compounds in fresh fruit juice of the three plants were revealed. We reported the presence of several compounds used to cure renal ailments. In the present study we reported the efficacy of these juices to alleviate nephrotoxicity in rat model. We intend to understand to what extent these fruits could be beneficial. Within the same scope we tried to evaluate whether the bioactive compounds present in the fruits could be responsible for reducing nephrotoxicity by in-silico molecular docking approaches.MethodsIn this study, three fruit juices namely Elaeagnus pyriformis, Myrica nagi and M. esculenta were evaluated on gentamicin induced nephrotoxicity in rat model. Nephrotoxicity was induced in wistar albino rats by intraperitoneal administration of gentamicin (100 mg/kg/day body weight) for 7 days. The study included a control group which received oral saline only, negative control group received gentamicin, positive control group received gentamicin and cystone, low dose group received gentamicin along with juice (200 mg/kg/day) and high dose group received gentamicin along with juice (400 mg/kg/day). Various enzymatic and biochemical parameters were assessed to study the protective effect of fruit juices in kidney disorders.ResultsAmong the three fruits M. esculenta showed promising result in all in-vivo enzymatic assays (Superoxide dismutase, Glutathione reductase, Lipid peroxidation and catalase). Nevertheless, all the three fruit juice showed high significance value with encouraging range of percentage of significance. The histological slides and in-silico study confirmed that these fruits are promising in alleviating nephrotoxicity in rat model.ConclusionWe may therefore conclude that fruit juices of silverberry (Elaeagnus) and bayberry (Myrica) may be used for formulating herbal medicine as a potent scavenger of free radicals to prevent the toxic effects of gentamicin in kidney disorders.