Lack of nephroprotective efficacy of Althaea officinalis flower extract against gentamicin renal toxicity in male rats

Background: gentamicin (gm) is used as antibiotic for gram-negative infections,but its administration is limited due to a side-effect of nephrotoxicity. it was attempted to investigate the effect of althaea officinalis flower extract (aofe) against nephrotoxicity induced by gm in male rats.methods: 30-year-old male wistar rats were divided into five groups. group 1 as a negative control group received aofe 250 mg/kg/day. groups 2-5 received saline,aofe 50 mg/kg/day,aofe 250 mg/kg/day,and aofe 500 mg/kg/day for 9 days,respectively,and gm (100 mg/kg/day) was added from the 3rd day on. at the end of the experiment,blood samples were obtained,animals were sacrificed,and the kidneys were removed immediately.results: gentamicin (in group 2) significantly increased serum levels of blood urea nitrogen and creatinine as well as the pathological damage score (p < 0.05) when compared with group 1. low dose of aofe did not decrease the nephrotoxicity induced by gm while the high dose of aofe aggravated renal toxicity (p < 0.05).conclusions: although aofe acts as an antioxidant,at the doses used in the current study did not ameliorate nephrotoxicity induced by gm. © 2014,isfahan university of medical sciences(iums). all rights reserved.