Prevention of renal dysfunction by nutraceuticals prepared from oil rich plant foods.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effect of extracts prepared from avocado, walnut, flaxseed and Eruca sativa seeds in a rat model of kidney dysfunction induced by intraperitoneal cisplatin. METHODS: Ethanol and petroleum ether extracts mixture was prepared from each plant. Six groups of rats were conducted; control healthy, cisplatin group and four test groups where rats were given daily oral dose of each extract mixture before cisplatin injection. Different biochemical and cytogenetic parameters and kidney histopathology were determined. Acute toxicity was tested for the nutraceuticals. Total phenolic contents, fatty acids (FA) and unsaponifiable matter were assessed in the extracts. RESULTS: Walnut ethanol extract showed the highest content of total phenolic. FA analysis revealed that all the studied plants were rich in unsaturated FA. Gas-liquid chromatographic investigation of the unsaponifiable matter showed the presence of campesterol, stigmasterol and ß-sitosterol in all the studied plants. Cisplatin treatment induced significant increase in plasma urea, creatinine and malondialdehyde along with significant reduction of plasma albumin, total protein, catalase and total antioxidant as well as reduction in creatinine clearance. Histopathological examination proved the induction of kidney dysfunction. Some sorts of chromosomal aberration and sperm-shape abnormalities were noticed after cisplatin treatment. Administration of extracts mixtures produced improvements in biochemical, histopathological and cytogenetic parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Administration of the studied nutraceuticals proved to possess protective role against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity, chromosomal aberration and abnormal sperms. All studied nutraceuticals showed complete safety.

Genotoxicity of benomyl and its residues in somatic and germ cells of mice fed on treated stored wheat grains.

Swiss mice were fed for 2, 4 and 8 weeks wheat grains treated with 1, 2, and 4 g benomyl/kg and stored for 6 and 12 weeks. The maximum effect of benomyl on the induction of chromosomal aberrations was observed after feeding mice for 8 weeks with wheat grains treated with 4 g benomyl/kg and stored for 12 weeks. Its proportion differed significantly in bone marrow and spermatocyte cells, 15+/-0.51% vs. 13.4+/-0.66%, respectively, from that in nontreated mice (background level), 4.4+/-0.24% and 3.8+/-0.20%, respectively. Lengthening the storage period of treated wheat grains caused a dose-dependent increase in the frequency of sister chromatid exchanges: 8.61+/-0.34 vs. 4.16+/-0.06/cell. The proportion of sperm-head abnormalities increased by lengthening the period of storage and feeding: 7.7+/-0.41% vs. 3.25+/-0.12%. In another experiment mice were orally treated by gavage with benomyl at 50, 100, 150, 200 mg/kg; a significant and dose-dependent increase in sperm-head abnormalities was observed. These findings demonstrate that benomyl (a 50% wettable powder formulation) and its residues in wheat grains are genotoxic in mice.

In vivo antimutagenic effect of vitamins C and E against rifampicin-induced chromosome aberrations in mouse bone-marrow cells.

-The genotoxic effect of rifampicin (RMP), one of the most active antituberculosis agents is studied. Also, the possible protection provided by the natural antioxidant vitamins C (VC) and E (VE) against the genotoxic effect of RMP is assessed. Mice were orally treated by gavage with 10, 50, 150 and 300 mg RMP kg(-1) body weight (bw). Also, oral treatment was conducted with RMP plus the vitamins. Mice received 300 mg RMP kg(-1) bw plus 100, 200 and 400mg VC or VE kg(-1) bw. Samples were taken 24h after the treatment. Repeated treatments with: (1) the therapeutic dose of RMP (10 mg kg(-1) bw); (2) RMP plus a dose of 25, 50 and 75 mg VC kg(-1); (3) RMP plus 10, 20 and 40 mg VE kg(-1) bw for 30 consecutive days were conducted. The tested doses of RMP induced a significant increase in the percentage of chromosome aberrations. However, a lower percentage of chromosome aberrations was observed when animals were treated with the therapeutic dose for 30 consecutive days. The obtained results revealed that chromosome aberrations induced by RMP decreased to a significant extent when mice were treated with RMP plus VC. The repeated doses of VC reduced the percentage of chromosome aberrations induced by RMP in a significant and dose-dependent manner. On the other hand, repeated doses of VE were not very effective in reducing the percentage of chromosome aberrations induced by RMP. Only the highest dose (3 x 40 mg kg(-1) bw) showed a significant effect (P<0.01). The results on the induction of chromosome damage clearly show that only VC appears able to efficiently protect the bone-marrow cells when given together with RMP, while no significant reduction in the yield of chromosome aberrations was observed for VE in combination with the antituberculosis drug.