ISSN 2326-7275
International Journal of Anatomy and Physiology ISSN: 2326-7275 Vol. 7 (1), pp. 001-005, January, 2018. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Effects of Hypericum perforatum (St. John’s wort) extract on renal function after unilateral ureteral obstruction in rat
Mehrdad Neshat1*, Yadollah Azarmi2, Ziaii Seyed Mehdi1, Yousef Doustar3 and Ghafour Mousavi4
1Department of Clinical Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz - Iran.
2Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
3Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz - Iran.
4Department of Clinical Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz - Iran.
Accepted 18 April, 2016
Abstract
Obstructive nephropathy induced by urine reflux due to uroliths, prostatic hypertrophy and other disorders will result in renal interstitial fibrosis and inflammation. Because of Hypericum perforatums (HP) anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, the clinical usage of this drug in renal function has been studied. We divided 30 Sprague- Dawley rats randomly into 5 groups: sham group (Sham), untreated unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) group, vitamin E treated (50 IU/kg) UUO group, HP 30 and 60 treated (30 and 60 mg/kg) UUO groups. All of the chemicals were administrated 7 days before and after operation. At 7 days after UUO, blood samples were collected and left kidney were dissected and Haematoxylin and Eosin (HE) and Masson staining were used to study the dynamic histological changes. Low dose of HP similar to vitamin E alleviated the renal interstitial fibrosis, tubular cell degeneration, inflammatory cell infiltration and glomerular damage (p<0.01) but high dose of HP increased injuries (p<0.05). We provide for the first time evidence that HP extract in obstructed kidney has different effects, such that in low dose it can be affected as a renoprotective agent, but in high dose, it can be affected as an inflammation triggering substance. The demonstration of exact mechanism (s) of opposite effect of HP extracts needs more cellular and molecular investigations.
Key words: Hypericum perforatum, renal glomerular damage, renal tubulointerstitial damage, unilateral ureteral obstruction.