The Nephroprotective Role of Carnosine Against Ifosfamide-Induced Renal Injury and Electrolytes Imbalance is Mediated Via the Regulation of Mitochondrial Function and Alleviation of Oxidative Stress.

BACKGROUND: Ifosfamide (IFO) is an alkylating agent administered against different types of malignancies. Several cases of renal injury and serum electrolytes disturbances have been reported in IFO-treated patients. Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction are suspected of being involved in the mechanism of IFO nephrotoxicity. Carnosine is a dipeptide which its antioxidant and mitochondria protecting properties have been mentioned in different experimental models. The current study aimed to evaluate the nephroprotective properties of carnosine against IFO-induced renal injury. METHODS: Rats were treated with IFO (50 mg/kg, i.p) alone or in combination with carnosine. Serum and urine biomarkers of renal injury in addition to kidney markers of oxidative stress were evaluated. Moreover, kidney mitochondria were isolated, and some mitochondrial indices were assessed. RESULTS: Elevated serum creatinine and BUN, hypokalemia, and hypophosphatemia, in addition, to an increase in urine glucose, protein, γ-GT, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), were evident in IFO-treated animals. IFO also caused an increase in kidney reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation (LPO). Renal GSH levels and antioxidant capacity were also depleted with IFO therapy. Mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity, GSH level, membrane potential, and ATP content were decreased while mitochondrial LPO and permeabilization were increased in IFO group. Carnosine (250 and 500 mg/kg, i.p) mitigated IFO-induced oxidative stress and mitochondrial impairment in renal tissue. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress as fundamental mechanisms of renal injury induced by IFO. On the other hand, carnosine supplementation protected kidneys against IFO-induced injury through regulating mitochondrial function and mitigating oxidative stress.

Insight into Microenvironment Remodeling in Pancreatic Endocrine Tissue Engineering: Biological and Biomaterial Approaches

The treatment of diabetes mellitus, as a chronic and complicated disease, is a valuable purpose. Islet transplantation can provide metabolic stability and insulin independence in type 1 diabetes patients. Diet and insulin therapy are only diabetes controllers and cannot remove all of the diabetes complications. Moreover, islet transplantation is more promising treatment than whole pancreas transplantation because of lesser invasive surgical procedure and morbidity and mortality. According to the importance of extracellular matrix for islet viability and function, microenvironment remodeling of pancreatic endocrine tissue can lead to more success in diabetes treatment by pancreatic islets. Production of bioengineered pancreas and remodeling of pancreas extracellular matrix provide essential microenvironment for re-vascularization, re-innervation and signaling cascades triggering. Therefore, islets show better viability and function in these conditions. Researchers conduct various scaffolds with different biomaterials for the improvement of islet viability, function and transplantation outcome. The attention to normal pancreas anatomy, embryology and histology is critical to understand the pancreatic Langerhans islets niche and finally to achieve efficient engineered structure. Therefore, in the present study, the status and components of the islets niche is mentioned and fundamental issues related to the tissue engineering of this structure is considered. The purpose of this review article is summarization of recent progress in the endocrine pancreas tissue engineering and biomaterials and biological aspects of it.