Nephroprotective Effect of Nasturtium officinale (Watercress) Ethanol Extract and Vitamin E on Vancomycin-Induced Nephrotoxicity in Rats

Vancomycin (VCM) is an important antibiotic that is active against gram-positive cocci, and its nephrotoxicity remain as a major problem in clinical use.
This study was designed to investigate the effect of Nasturtium officinale hydro-alcoholic extract (NOE) and vitamin E aganist VCM-induced nephrotoxicity in adult male wistar rats.
A total of 36 animals were randomly divided into 6 equal groups (n = 6) including 1, control group; 2, VCM group; 3, VCM NOE (250 mg/kg) group; 4, VCM NOE (500 mg/kg) group; 5, VCM vitamin E (250 mg/kg) group; and 6, VCM vitamin E (500 mg/kg) group. VCM (200 mg kg-1 i.p.) was given every 12 hours for 7 consecutive days. NOE and vitamin E were orally given to rats 30 minutes prior to i.p. injection of VCM. Acute renal failure was evaluated by measuring serum urea, creatinine levels, and creatinine clearance. Change in body weight and kidney weight (g/100 g body weight) were measured. The right kidney was fixed in formalin for pathological evaluation and the left kidney was homogenized for determination of malondialdehyde (MDA).
VCM significantly increased serum creatinine and urea levels, MDA levels, kidney weight/100 mg weight of body, as well as reduced creatinine clearance. NOE (250, 500 mg kg-1) and vitamin E (500 mg kg-1) pretreatment considerably alleviated all of these changes when compared with VCM treated alone. Histological examination of VCM-treated group showed a marked renal injury with tubular epithelial cell desquamation, swelling, and tubular dilatation. These changes were mitigated with NOE- and vitamin E.
The data indicate that NOE obviously attenuated VCM-induced nephrotoxicity. Elucidation of the exact mechanism(s) of this protection requires more research, however, it might be mediated by antioxidant effects of NOE.