الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract L- Carnosine (-alanyl-L-histidine) is a naturally-occurring antioxidant. Carnosine is an endogenously-synthesized dipeptide which is present in brain, cardiac muscle, kidney, stomach, olfactory bulbs and in large amounts in skeletal muscles. The protective effect of carnosine against ischemia / reperfusion-induced acute renal failure was previously investigated. In the present study, the protective and therapeutic effects of carnosine against chronic renal failure (CRF) were investigated using a remnant kidney model. Fifty adult male Wistar albino rats were used and were equally divided into 5 groups: control, carnosine, CRF, protected and treated groups. Carnosine at dose 50 mg/kg B.wt. was used. CRF was experimentally-induced to rats through nephrectomy on the right side, and burning the upper and lower thirds of the left kidney through an opening on the abdominal cavity under ether anethesia. Sera from each animal were used to determine kidney functions (creatinine and urea levels), liver functions (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase activities, total proteins, albumin, globulin levels and albumin/globulin ratio), lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol-to-total cholesterol concentration ratio ), nitric oxide level, total antioxidant capacity and pancreatic lipase activity. Our results revealed that intraperitoneal injection of carnosine had no significant effect on all tested parameters. CRF induction resulted in significant elevation in serum creatinine, urea, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol concentrations and pancreatic lipase activity. On other hand, significant reduction in serum total proteins, albumin, globulin, alanine aminotransferase activity, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol-to-total cholesterol concentration ratio, nitric oxide level and total antioxidant capacity were evident, while aspartate aminotransferase activity remained unchanged. Protection and treatment with carnosine resulted in significant improvement in all tested parameters which were almost amounted to their matched values in control group. It could be concluded from the present work that carnosine could be administered safely. The present study pointed out to the protective and therapeutic role of carnosine against CRF induced experimentally in rats. |