Nephroprotective properties of Achillea millefolium green-formulated Au NPs in streptozotocin-induced diabetic nephropathy in mice: Introducing a novel therapeutic drug for the treatment of nephropathy

Abstract

We have reported biosynthesis of Au NPs by using Achillea millefolium aqueous extract under mild procedure. Various techniques like UV–Vis, TEM, FE-SEM, EDS-elemental mapping and ICP-OES were used to characterize present nanoparticles. In the in vivo condition, streptozotocin (STZ) with dose of 60 mg/kg was used intraperitoneally for inducing diabetes in 100 mature male mice. The negative control mice were treated with normal saline and other mice were treated with glibenclamide (0.5 mg/kg) and Au nanoparticles (10 and 40 μg/kg) by gavage for 20 days. Additionally, 20 diabetic mice were considered as positive control and received the normal saline. Gold nanoparticles reduced the raised concentrations of urea and blood glucose in biochemical assays and volumes and lengths of vessels, loop of Henle, collecting ducts, and distal and proximal tubules in stereological assays in comparison with the untreated group. According to the obtained findings, gold nanoparticles can ameliorate the raised levels of biochemical parameters and prevent kidney structure damage in STZ-induced diabetic mice.