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Background: Estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is one major area of interest in forensic medicine. We investigated changes of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in rat brain and renal tissues in the PMI and examined the potential changes which may be useful for an estimation of time of death., Methods: Forty albino female rats were used in this study. The rats were sacrificed and divided into five groups: Group 1: 0 hour, Group 2: 6 hours, Group 3: 12 hours, Group 4: 24 hours, and Group 5: 48 hours. The rats were housed at room temperature (22 degrees C ± 2 degrees C) for the defined period for each group, and their brains and kidneys were excised., Results: The postmortem MDA levels were significantly different between groups for both renal and brain tissues (p = 0.003; p = 0.007). The diagnostic adequacy of MDA was calculated. Regarding SOD and GSH-Px, we were not able to obtain any date that would be useful for the prediction of PMI., Conclusions: According to this study, it is possible that an estimation of the PMI can be made using postmortem MDA levels. Regarding SOD and GSH-Px, we were not able to obtain any data that would be useful for the prediction of PMI.

It was aimed to investigate the histopathological and biochemical changes in kidney tissues of rats exposed to cigarette smoke and possible protective effects of caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) on these changes. Twenty one male Wistar albino rats were divided into three equal groups. Animals in group I were used as control. Rats in group II were exposed to cigarette smoke and rats in group III were exposed to cigarette smoke and daily administration of CAPE. At the end of the 60-day experimental period, all the animals were sacrificed by decapitation. The serum samples obtained from the animals were studied for uric acid, creatinine and blood urine nitrogen (BUN) levels. Following routine histological procedures, kidney tissue specimens were examined under a light microscope. In addition, dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) enzyme activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) contents were determined spectrophotometrically in tissue samples. It was found that serum uric acid and BUN levels of the rats exposed to cigarette smoke alone were elevated, although serum creatinine levels did not significantly change. Furthermore, renal SOD, GSH-Px, NO and MDA levels were significantly increased. These increases in serum BUN, and renal SOD, GSH-Px, NO and MDA levels were significantly inhibited by CAPE treatment. In light microscopic observations of tissues from rats exposed to smoke, mesangial cell proliferation in the renal corpuscles, dilatation and congestion in the peritubular capillaries and degenerative alterations in the proximal tubules were noted. There were also atrophic renal corpuscles. However, these histopathological changes were partially disappeared in the rats exposed to cigarette smoke plus CAPE. The present findings indicate that cigarette smoke causes impairment in renal structure and function, which can be prevented by CAPE administration.

Cisplatin is one of the widely used chemothrapeutic agents. One of the major side effects of the drug is renal toxicity. The aims of the presented study was (1) to investigate the effect of cisplatin on some renal metabolic enzyme activities such as hexokinase (HK), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) in an experimental model of acute renal failure and (2) to examine the protective role of erdosteine, an expectorant agent which has also antioxidant properties on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and the enzyme activities mentioned above. Female Wistar albino rats were divided into three groups: sham operation group (n = 6), cisplatin group ( n = 9), erdostein + cisplatin group ( n = 8). All the chemicals used were applied intraperitoneally. Hexokinase, G6PD, LDH, and MDH activities were determined in the kidney supernatant at the end of the surgical procedures. Spectrophotometric methods were used to determine the activities of above-mentioned enzymes in the kidney tissue. Hexokinase and G6PD activities were found to be increased in cisplatin group compared to control group. G6PD activities were found to be decreased in erdosteine + cisplatin group compared to cisplatin group. There were minimal changes in LDH and MDH activities of the two study groups compared with the control group. The results obtained suggested that the glucose metabolizing metabolic pathways of renal tissue were partially affected from cisplatin toxicity and erdosteine have some protective effects on these enzyme activities.

The aim of this study was to investigate the optimum dosage of erdosteine to ameliorate cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. Three different doses of erdosteine at 25, 50 and 75 mg kg(-1) were studied in rats. Intraperitoneal administration of 7 mg kg(-1) cisplatin led to acute renal failure, as indicated by kidney histology and increases in plasma creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels. At 5 days after cisplatin injection the BUN level was increased significantly from 15.1 +/- 4.3 to 126.7 +/- 152.6 mg dl(-1) and plasma creatinine levels increased from 0.37 +/- 0.005 to 1.68 +/- 1.9 mg dl(-1). When the rats were administered 50 and 75 mg kg(-1) erdosteine 24 h before cisplatin injection that was continued until sacrifice (total of 6 days), the BUN and creatinine levels remained similar to control levels and the grade of histology was similar. Erdosteine at doses of 50 and 75 mg kg(-1) ameliorates cisplatin-induced renal failure. The optimum dose of erdosteine may be 50 mg kg(-1) in this study., (Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the acute effects of antioxidant caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) and alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) on nitric oxide (NO) production, neutrophil infiltration, and antioxidant enzyme activities on an in vivo model of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury., Methods: Rats were divided into five equal groups each consisting six rats: sham operation, ischemia, ischemia-reperfusion (I/R), I/R plus CAPE, and I/R plus vitamin E groups. CAPE or vitamin E was administered intraperitoneally before reperfusion. After experimental procedure, rats were sacrificed and both ipsilateral and contralateral kidneys were removed and prepared for NO concentrations, myeloperoxidase (MPO), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities., Results: Acute administration of vitamin E decreased NO concentrations in both ipsilateral and contralateral renal tissues compared to I/R group. SOD activity was increased in I/R and I/R + CAPE groups compared to sham operation group. The most prominent results were encountered in MPO activities, which did not change in contralateral kidneys in both ischemia and I/R groups. There was a significant decrease in ipsilateral MPO activity in ischemia group and a significant increase in I/R group compared to sham operation group. Pretreatment with intraperitoneal CAPE significantly diminished the tissue MPO activity indicating the prevention of the neutrophil sequestration into the kidney., Conclusion: There is a role for CAPE in attenuation in renal damage after I/R injury of the kidney, in part at least by inhibition of neutrophil sequestration.

Oxygen-derived free radicals have been implicated in the pathogenesis of renal injury after ischaemia-reperfusion. Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), an active component of propolis extract, exhibits antioxidant properties. To investigate whether treatment with either CAPE or alpha-tocopherol modifies the levels of the endogenous indices of oxidant stress, we examined their effects on an in vivo model of renal ischaemia-reperfusion injury in rats. CAPE at 10 micromol kg(-1) or alpha-tocopherol at 10 mg kg(-1) was administered intraperitoneally before reperfusion. Acute administration of both CAPE and alpha-tocopherol altered the indices of oxidative stress differently in renal ischaemia-reperfusion injury., (Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Oxygen-derived free radicals have been implicated in the pathogenesis of renal injury after ischemia-reperfusion. Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), an active component of propolis extract, exhibits antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. To determine whether CAPE offers any advantage over alpha-tocopherol, we compared their effects on an in vivo model of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats. CAPE at 10 micromol/kg or alpha-tocopherol at 10 mg/kg was administered intraperitoneally before reperfusion. Acute administration of CAPE suppressed ischemia-reperfusion induced renal lipid peroxidation and tissue injury more than alpha-tocopherol. CAPE may therefore offer a therapeutic advantage in acute injury settings.