ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to evaluate the renal protective effect of a combined ethanol extract of Andrographispaniculata, Mucunapruriens and Ficussur (AMFICUS) ofalloxan-induced diabetic rats. The acute toxicity effect ofAMFICUS was evaluated with twenty-one (21) male albino rats while forty-two (42) male albino rats were used for the evaluation ofthe renoprotective effect of AMFICUS on alloxan-induced diabetic rats. The forty-two rats were randomly selected into seven groups containing equal number of rats (n = 6). Group 1 was the normal control that received 2 mL/kg normal saline and groups 2-6 were alloxan-induced diabetic rats. The rats were induced diabetic by the intraperitoneal administration of a single dose (160 mg/kg) of alloxan dissolved in normal saline and allowed to stay for 72 h for onset ofdiabetes. Alloxan-induced rats having blood glucose level above 200 mg/dl were considered diabetic and used for the study. The diabetic induced rats were classified as diabetic control, diabetic rats + 3 mg/kg Glibenclamide, diabetic rats + 200 mg/kg AMFICUS, diabetic rats + 400 mg/kg AMFICUS, and diabetic rats + 800 mg/kg AMFICUS. The groups 7 rats served as AMFICUS control that received 800 mg/kg AMFICUS only. The study was conducted following standard laboratory procedures. The results ofthe acute toxicity study of AMFICUS indicated that it has LD50 above 5000 mg/kg. The results of renaprotective study of AMFICUS indicated that the diabetic control rats exhibited significantly (P<0.05) elevated serum urea, creatinine, sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate ion concentrations compared with the normal control and rats administered 800 mg/kg AMFICUS only, respectively. The alterations in the serum urea, creatinine, sodium, potassium, chloride, and bicarbonate ion concentrations were significantly reversed in the diabetic rats treated with different doses ofAMFICUS mA Glibenclamide respectively compared with the normal control. The renal sections of diabetic control rats and diabetic rats treated with 200 and 400 mg/kg AMFICUS respectively, displayed multifocal areas oftubular degenerations and necrosis relative to the renal histomorphology of the normal control. Contrarily, the renal histomorphology of diabetic rats treated with 800 mg/kg AMFICUS, and rats administered 800 mg/kg AMFICUS only respectively showed normal histomorphology compared to the diabetic control. The findings from this study show that AMFICUS possesses renoprotective effect against renal disorders associated with alloxan-induced diabetes in rats and suggest it could play a critical role in the management of diabetes.