LAUSR

The incidence and prevalence of kidney failure has been on the increase in recent times and in addressing the global burden, the present study investigated the influence of methanol extract of Delonix regia (DR) leaves on rat models intraperitoneally injected with a single dose of 5 mg/kg cisplatin to induce nephrotoxicity. Cisplatin-induced nephrotoxic rats received daily oral gavage of either DR of 20 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg for 10 days. On day 10, the levels of kidney mitochondrial ATPase (mATPase), lipid peroxidation (LPO), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and plasma creatinine (CRE) were determined by spectrophotometry. The presence of cytochrome c and caspase 3 were determined immuohistochemically. Treatment with 20, 50 and 100 mg/kg showed a statistically significant reduction in the levels of BUN and CRE (p < 0.050). The enhanced mATPase and LPO activities in cisplatin-induced nephrotoxic rats were significantly reduced in the protective order 100 > 50 > 20 mg/kg respectively (p < 0.05). The excessive release of cytochrome c and activation of caspase 3 observed in cisplatin-induced nephrotoxic rats were reduced by all treatment groups. The histologic findings revealed that cisplatin-induced nephrotoxic rats had disseminated infiltration of the renal cortex by inflammatory cells while treatment showed regenerated tubules. The suppression of mATPase activity, reduced release of cytochrome c and caspase 3 activation by Delonix regia could be a mechanism at least in part for its use in folklore medicine in the treatment of kidney disease.