Horse gram (Macrotyloma uniflorum) a traditional food medicine protects the kidney from the cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in albino rats

The nutritional seeds from Macrotyloma uniflorum (MU) were studied for their unexplored beneficial effect in kidney diseases. Thus, the present study was designed to investigate the MU seed for its nephroprotective efficacy against cisplatininduced nephrotoxicity in an animal model. The nephroprotective potential for the Macrotyloma uniflorum seed extract (MUSE) was evaluated in albino rats (250 and 500 mg/kg; p.o.) for 10 days. At the end of the study, the nephroprotective effect was assessed based on the levels of various biochemical parameters of serum, urine, and kidney tissue. The GC-MS analyses of extract confirmed the antioxidant phytochemical constituents responsible for the nephroprotective activity. The MUSE treatment at 250 and 500 mg/kg p.o. showed a significant reduction in the levels of blood urea nitrogen (p<0.05), serum creatinine (p<0.01), serum urea (p<0.001), restore the urine volume (p<0.01), and urine creatinine (p<0.01) as compared to the negative control (cisplatin-injected rats). Subsequently, the abnormal conditions of creatinine clearance (p<0.05) and serum albumin (p<0.05) were restored to normal. For respective doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg p.o, the superoxide dismutase activity increased (p<0.05) to 82.91 and 98.8 U/g whilst the glutathione level significantly increased (p<0.01) to 36.24 and 46.17 µg/mg. Similarly, the catalase activity was significantly improved (p<0.001) to 485.9 and 573.5 µM/g with a significant reduction (p<0.001) in the level of the malondialdehyde to 84.56 and 68.56 nM/mg, respectively for low and high doses. The histopathology of kidney tissues confirmed the pronounced nephroprotection effect of MUSE against the cisplatin-induced injuries like tubular necrosis, hyaline cast, and vascular congestions. The major constituents found in GC-MS were inositol, ethyl alpha-d-glucopyranoside, n- hexadecanoic acid, 9, 12-octadecadienoic aci, 3-betastigmast-5-en-3-ol, Vitamin E, and stigmasterol. The results indicate the promising nephroprotective potential of Macrotyloma uniflorum seeds in nephrotoxicity induced rats, and the efficacy was comparable with vitamin E.