Introduction: Diabetic nephropathy is the second most common secondary type of glomerular diseases among Saudi patients after systemic lupus erythematosus. Ocimum basilicum (O. basilicum) was reported to have anti-diabetic and antioxidants effects. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of O. basilicum in controlling STZ-induced diabetes mellitus in rats and preserving the structure of kidney against diabetes-induced nephropathy. Methods: This study utilized forty adult male Spraque-Dawley rats assigned into four groups (n=10 each); control, streptozotocin-induced diabetic, metformin-treated and O. Basilicum-treated groups. The blood glucose level (BGL), total anti-oxidant capacity (TAC), serum creatinine and BUN levels were assessed. Kidneys were dissected out and processed for histopathological and immunohistochemical assessment. Results: The BGL significantly decreased in Metformin- and O. basilicum-treated (p=0.02, p=0.01) rats while TAC significantly increased (p=0.01, p=0.003) respectively, compared to the untreated diabetic rats. In addition, O. basilicum significantly reduced (p=0.004, p=0.02) both creatinine and BUN levels compared to the untreated diabetic group, respectively. Examination of kidney of O. basilicum-treated diabetic rats revealed few degenerated renal tubules, with no inflammatory cell infiltrates, peritubular capillaries congestion and minimal peritubular collagen fibers deposition. It also reduced immunoexpression of desmin and αsmooth muscle actin in glomeruli of O. basilicum-treated diabetic rats. Conclusion: Glucose lowering and antioxidant effects of O. basilicum was evident biochemically in this study. O. basilicum could protect the kidney against diabetes-induced nephropathy as revealed biochemically and histopathologically. Further exploration of the mechanism and assessment of efficacy in human through clinical study are recommended.
Key words: Ocimum Basilicum, Basil-diabetes mellitus, kidney-desmin-ASMA-creatinine, histopathology.
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