Publication:

Curcumin prevents renal oxidative stress and tissue damage induced by renal ischemia/reperfusion in rats

Background There is increasing evidence to suggest that curcumin has antioxidant efficacy in renal ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI). However, it has not been investigated whether this effect is dose-dependent or not.  The aim of this study is to investigate the dose-dependent effect of curcumin on renal IRI in an experimental rat model.

Methods The rats (n=32) were separated into four groups: sham, I/R, I/R+CUR-50, I/R+CUR-100. Rats were subjected to renal ischemia by clamping bilateral renal pedicles for 60 min, and then reperfused for 3 h. Animals in treatment groups received 50 mg/kg/day and 100 mg/kg/day curcumin orally for 5 days before IRI, respectively. MDA, GSH, SOD, and CAT activities were determined in renal tissue. Renal tissue also evaluated histopathologically for mean histopathological damage score.

Results The mean MDA levels in the I/R+CUR-50 and I/R+CUR-100 groups were significantly decreased when compared with the I/R group (p=0.038 and p=0.016, respectively). SOD, CAT and GSH levels of all treatment groups were significantly increased in comparison to that of I/R group (p 0.05). In histological examination, the rats treated with curcumin had nearly normal morphology of the kidney.

Conclusions Curcumin significantly ameliorates the damage of renal IRI by its antioxidant activity. We detected the highest intraperitoneal dose of curcumin reduced the IRI induced oxidative stress as 50 mg/kg per day.