Cisplatin is chemotherapeutic drug used in treatment of malignancies. However, its clinical utility is limited by nephrotoxicity. The purpose of present study is to investigate biochemical and molecular effects of alpha lipoic acid (ALA) to protect against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in mice. Cisplatin (12 mg/kg/day) was administered i.p. for 4 days. Group of mice were given ALA (20 mg/kg/day) for 18 days. Another set were administered ALA for 4 days before and 14 days after cisplatin intoxication. The results obtained revealed that kidney/body weight ratio of cisplatin-treated mice was increased by +40%. ALA intake declined the ratio by -19%. Serum creatinine and urea levels were increased in cisplatin-treated mice by +375% and +69%, respectively. These changes were moved to normalcy upon ALA intake. Cisplatin treatment elevated malondialdehyde (MDA) by 27 fold and declined reduced glutathione (GSH) by -49%. Cisplatin decreased catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzymes by -47%, -49% and -59%, respectively. ALA decreased the MDA by -286% and increased the GSH, catalase, SOD and GPx levels by +60%, +81%, +90% and +38%, respectively. ALA increased mRNA expression of catalase, CuZn SOD and GPx genes near to normalcy compared to cisplatin-treated mice. Cisplatin-treated mice increased caspase-3-activity by +223%, nitric oxide (NO) by +74% and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) by 10 fold. ALA intake declined these changes by -43%, -45% and -73%, respectively. ALA may play renoprotective role on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity through antioxidant and antiapoptotic mechanisms combined with initiation of mRNA expression of antioxidant genes.
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