Morphological Effect of Ethanol Extract of Tinospora cordifolia on Gentamicin-induced Nephrotoxicity in Rats

Recent studies indicate that cellular lipid peroxidation by free radical is an underlying mechanism of acute renal failure induced by gentamicin (GM). Tinospora cordifolia (Tc) extract has been reported to have antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities that is why it is used in present study with the expectation to interrupt the toxic free radical chain reaction of lipid peroxidation in the course of gentamicin administration. For this purpose, sixty rats were divided into six equal groups. Gentamicin (80mg/kg/day, 7 days) was administered to produce nephrotoxicity and structural alterations were evidenced from histopathology of renal tissues which indicates the renal injury and dysfunction in rats. The ethanol extract of Tinospora (200mg/kg/day) was administered with gentamicin simultaneously and also sequentially to observe preventive and curative effects respectively. Both the groups recovered from the gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity, evidenced from improvement of histopathological features, though accurate mechanism and safety profile is not confirmed by this study.