Amelioration of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity by pravastatin in mice

This study investigated the protective effects of pravastatin against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and the possible mechanisms in mice. Pravastatin showed significant protection as evidenced by the decrease of elevated serum creatinine (CRE) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and improvement of histopathological injury induced by cisplatin. The formation of kidney malondialdehyde (MDA) with a concomitant reduction of reduced glutathione (GSH) were inhibited by pravastatin, while the activities of kidney superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-px) were increased. The over expressions of kidney induced nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and nitrotyrosine (3-NT) were suppressed by pravastatin. Pravastatin suppressed cisplatin-induced p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation in the kidney of mice. These results suggest that pravastatin pre-administration can prevent the nephrotoxicity induced by cisplatin. Pravastatin may exert the protective effect via inhibiting oxidative and nitrosative stress.