Amelioración de la lesión renal inducida por diabetes tipo 2 mediante la focalización de la vía AMPK/PI3K/AKT/mTOR

This study was conducted to delineate the beneficial effect of targeting AMPK/PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway on kidney injury associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) using Nigella sativa (NS). Rats in our experiments were randomly allocated into 3 groups: control, T2D, and T2D-NS-treated group. Samples from different groups were used to assess renal functions, lipid profile, fasting glucose, and insulin resistance. Moreover, RT-qPCR was exploited to detect the expressional pattern of AMPK, PI3K, AKT, mTOR, HIF-1α, and VEGF. In addition, histopathological analysis was conducted using H&E staining. Our data revealed a significant elevation in the blood glucose, insulin, HbA1C, renal function tests, microalbuminuria, as well as marked dyslipidemia that were associated with deleterious histopathological changes in T2D group compared to their matched control. Moreover, there was an increase in the expressional level of PI3K, AKT, mTOR, HIF-1α, and VEGF and downward regulation of AMPK. NS treatment could successfully ameliorate the biochemical and histopathological changes observed in the diabetic group to comparable levels observed in the control group, as it exerted a clear antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic, and renoprotective effect in T2D.