Protective Effect of Silymarin on Attenuating of Rhabdomyolysis -induced Acute Kidney Injury in Animal Models

Acute kidney injury is one of the most serious complications of rhabdomyolysis characterized by an acute loss of renal function. The study aims to investigate the renoprotective effect of silymarin against rhabdomyolysis-induced acute kidney injury in rats. Twenty-four healthy rats were equally divided into three groups: control, induction, and treatment groups. Rats in the control and induction groups received distilled water, while rats in the treatment group received silymarin (50 mg /kg/day p.o) for three consecutive days. On the first day, all rats (except rats of control group) received a single intramuscular injection of glycerol (10 mL/kg, 50% v/v in sterile saline) divided equally into each hind leg for induction of acute kidney injury. On the fourth day of experiment, blood and kidney,s were collected from all rats for biochemical and histopathological assay. Silymarin efficiently attenuated acute kidney injury caused by rhabdomyolysis evidenced by a significant decrease in serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen(BUN), along with a significant reduction in renal homogenate levels of TNF-α, IL-6, NF-κB, caspase-3, and MDA with a significant increase in GSH level, which was further confirmed by improving renal histological changes when compared to that of induction group. This study found that silymarin has a potential attenuating effect on acute kidney injury due to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic actions.