Abstract

Background

Nicotine is an important factor in the pathogenesis of renal injury in smokers.

Purpose

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the renoprotective effect of Spirulina platensis extract (SP) against chronic nicotine administration in rats.

Methods

Nicotine intoxication was induced with 0.5 mg/kg BW. Rats received 500 mg SP/kg BW by gastric gavage over 4 weeks.

Results

Our data revealed that nicotine induced renal dysfunction manifested by significant abnormal levels of kidney function markers (creatinine and urea) accompanied by increased levels of oxidative stress biomarker (malondialdehyde) and inflammatory markers (nitric oxide, Interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α) while antioxidant status as glutathione level and glutathione S-transferase activity were found to be decreased significantly as compared with controls. It is worthy to note that nicotine toxicity induced significant increments in the protein expression levels of nuclear factor kappa B as well as caspase-3. Histopathological observations showed tubular necrosis and congestion in the endothelial lining glomerular tuft and epithelial lining renal tubules with nicotine intoxication. Interestingly, our data demonstrated that SP supplementation significantly improved the nicotine-induced kidney dysfunction, alleviated the induced-lipid peroxidation, inflammatory, apoptotic protein markers, and boosted the enzymatic/non-enzymatic antioxidants. Moreover, it attenuated the nicotine-induced histopathological alterations of the kidney architecture.

Conclusion

Thus, it is tempting to recommend dietary approaches with Spirulina platensis extract for smokers to minimize the deleterious effect of chronic nicotine consumption and exposure-related problems towards kidney injury via its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic properties.