Effects of Methanolic Leaf-extract of Costus pictus D. Don on Swiss Albino Mice with Hyperglycemia Associated Renal Complications

Tilak Saha^1*, Sagar Sarkar^{1, 2}, Rejuan Islam¹, Amlan Jyoti Ghosh¹ and Supriyo Ghosh¹

¹Laboratory of Immunology and Microbiology, Department of Zoology, University of North Bengal, West Bengal, India

²Department of Zoology, Siliguri College, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.

Corresponding Author E-mail: tilaksaha@nbu.ac.in

Abstract: Effects of Costus pictus leaf extract (CPLE) in ameliorating the adverse outcomes of hyperglycemia-associated renal injury is investigated in Swiss Albino Mice. To induce renal injury associated with hyperglycemia, adult mice were given intraperitoneal injections of Streptozotocin (STZ) dissolved in 0.5mol citrate buffer for five days. Animals were divided into five groups, namely CMC (vehicle control group, receiving only carboxy methyl cellulose), DC (Disease control group, receiving only STZ and without any treatment), GLD (positive control group, receiving standard drug glibenclamide), LD (experimental group treated with CPLE at 250 mg/kg bw) and HD (experimental group treated with CPLE at 500 mg/kg bw). After a rearing/treatment regimen of 4 weeks, animals were sacrificed to analyze various parameters. Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) based area under the curve of plasma glucose (AUC_glucose), kidney index, lipid profiling, serum, urine parameters (creatinine, albumin, urea), antioxidant studies and kidney histopathology were carried out. It was found that harmful lipids like cholesterol, triglycerides (TG) and low-density lipoprotein-C (LDL-C) levels were significantly elevated in the DC group, whereas LD, HD and GLD showed a tendency towards normalcy. Urine and serum parameters also showed the same trend in treatments and the GLD group, whereas the DC group showed steep abnormalities. Antioxidant study also reveals that treatment with CPLE, balances antioxidant activity by mitigating the effects of ROS. Histopathological investigations displayed significant disruptions in the microstructure of glomeruli of the DC group compared to both the treatments and GLD groups. These preliminary findings indicate that CPLE shows a trend to ameliorate hyperglycemia-associated renal complications and demands further detailed study.

Keywords: Alternative medicine; Hyperglycemia; Nephropathy; Nephroprotection; Renal Injury; Streptozotocin

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