Search

Interest in medicinal plant research and usage has risen due to many reported side effects of synthetic drugs and their relatively higher cost. Ocimum americanum(family Lamiaceae) is a commonly used spice in Ghana with the aqueous extracts of leaves, flowers and stem been rich in saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids, and tannins. The aim of the study was to evaluate the nephroprotective potential of the aqueous extracts of O. americanumparts on gentamicin- and cisplatin-induced toxicity in rats. In a ten-day experiment, nephrotoxicity was induced with gentamicin (GM; 100 mg/kg b.wt. for 8 days) and cisplatin (Cisp; 6 mg/kg b.wt. for 1 day) after pre-treatment with 250 mg/kg b.wt. of the leaves, stem, and flower extracts of O. americanumand standard drug, silymarin (100 mg/kg b.wt.) for 10 days. The nephroprotective activity was evaluated by assaying the activity of serum kidney function parameter, kidney oxidative stress parameters, kidney inflammatory cytokines (NF-κB and IL-1) and histopathology. The activities of kidney function parameters of animals were significantly increased following Cisp and GM treatment with resultant alteration is kidney microarchitecture, over-expressions of NF-κB and IL1 and kidney oxidative stress markers. Extract pre-treatment restored kidney function to near-normal, downregulating the expressions of IL-1 and NF-κB and improved levels of reduced GSH contents, GPx and SOD activities. However, leaves extract showed the best protection against GM while all extracts showed improved protection (> 50%) against Cisp. Extract of Ocimum americanumexhibit nephroprotective activity and could be developed as a potent kidney protector.