Protective effect of ghrelin on histopathological alterations in renal tissue of mice treated with cyclophosphamide

Cyclophosphamide is one of the common medications in chemotherapy and suppression of the immune system in organ transplantation. The clinical use of cyclophosphamide has been reduced due to its many side effects due to reproductive, hepatic, renal, and cardiac toxicity in patients and animal models. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of ghrelin against cyclophosphamide-induced damage to renal tissue.

Thirty-two (2-month-old) male mice were randomly divided into 4 groups: 1) control 2) cyclophosphamide (3) cyclophosphamide + ghrelin 4) ghrelin. Cyclophosphamide once a week (100 mg/kg) and ghrelin (80 μg/kg) were injected intraperitoneally daily for 5 weeks. After 5 weeks, the kidneys were removed and after weighing, tissue alterations were examined by hematoxylin-eosin and Schiff periodic acid staining.

Studies showed that cyclophosphamide significantly reduced body weight and kidney weight and also significantly increased tissue damage (p < 0.05). Ghrelin treatment significantly improved the above parameters (p < 0.05).

The results of this study showed that ghrelin can reduce the destructive effects of cyclophosphamide on renal tissue.