Effects of Lipidium sativum seeds extract (Garden cress) on the kidney in sodium nitrite receiving rats

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the modulating effect of Lipidium sativum (LS) seeds aqueous extract consumption against sodium nitrite (SN) that induced the nephrotoxicity in male rats. Rats were divided into four groups. Group 1 (control): without any treatment; group 2: injected with a single dose of SN (50 mg/kg body weight) 24 h prior to decapitation intraperitoneally (i.p.); group 3: given orally 300 mg/kg body weight of LS for four weeks; group 4: treated orally with LS for four weeks, then injected with a single dose of SN, at 24 h prior to decapitation (i.p.) with the same doses. The results showed that, the treatment with sodium nitrite revealed a significantly increase in the levels of sodium, chloride, total calcium, ionized calcium, urea, creatinine and uric acid comparing to the control group. In respect to serum potassium, there is a significant decrease when compared to the control group. Also, the kidney tissue thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were significantly increased. But the superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH) and Catalase (CAT) enzymes were markedly decreased. The pre-treatment with LS before the injection of SN improved the harmful effects of SN caused in the serum levels of the biochemical parameters tested and the concentrations of GSH, SOD, CAT and TBARS in the kidney tissue comparing to SN-treated rats. It could be concluded that Lipidium sativum seeds act as a natural substance for ameliorating the alterations in serum electrolytes, kidney function and oxidative damage induced by sodium nitrite in the kidney tissue.