<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Artemisinin, an antimalarial drug, has anticancer activity and possesses protective effects against several tissue injuries. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of artemisinin on doxorubicin-induced renal and testicular toxicity in rats. Doxorubicin was administered to rats at a single dose of 10 mg/kg body weight (b.w.) as a single intraperitoneal injection. Application of artemisinin was by using oral gavage feeding needle for 14 days at different specified doses (7 mg/kg and 35 mg/kg b.w.). At the end of the experiments, kidney and testis samples were collected and used for histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations. At histopathological examination, while hyperemia was the marked finding in kidney and testis of rats treated with doxorubicin only, no evidence of structural abnormalities showed in other groups. Immunohistochemical examination of the testes and kidneys demonstrated significantly increased expression of caspase-3, TNF-α, iNOS and NF-κB in rats treated with doxorubicin only. Artemisinin decreased the doxorubicin-induced overexpression of NF-κB, iNOS, TNFα and caspase-3 in these tissues of rats. Artemisinin can protect the kidney and testis against doxorubicin-induced nephrotoxicity and testotoxicity, probably through a decrease of caspase-3, TNF-α, iNOS and NF-κB expressions. It may be concluded that artemisinin has a potential for clinical use in the treatment of kidney and testis damage induced by doxorubicin. Further researches are required to determine the appropriate combination of artemisinin with doxorubicin.</p></abstract>

Artemisinin, an antimalarial drug, has anticancer activity and possesses protective effects against several tissue injuries. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of artemisinin on doxorubicin-induced renal and testicular toxicity in rats. Doxorubicin was administered to rats at a single dose of 10 mg/kg body weight (b.w.) as a single intraperitoneal injection. Application of artemisinin was by using oral gavage feeding needle for 14 days at different specified doses (7 mg/kg and 35 mg/kg b.w.). At the end of the experiments, kidney and testis samples were collected and used for histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations. At histopathological examination, while hyperemia was the marked finding in kidney and testis of rats treated with doxorubicin only, no evidence of structural abnormalities showed in other groups. Immunohistochemical examination of the testes and kidneys demonstrated significantly increased expression of caspase-3, TNF-α, iNOS and NF-κB in rats treated with doxorubicin only. Artemisinin decreased the doxorubicin-induced overexpression of NF-κB, iNOS, TNFα and caspase-3 in these tissues of rats. Artemisinin can protect the kidney and testis against doxorubicin-induced nephrotoxicity and testotoxicity, probably through a decrease of caspase-3, TNF-α, iNOS and NF-κB expressions. It may be concluded that artemisinin has a potential for clinical use in the treatment of kidney and testis damage induced by doxorubicin. Further researches are required to determine the appropriate combination of artemisinin with doxorubicin.

Investigation of the Effects of Artemisinin on Testis and Kidney Injury Induced by Doxorubicin

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathology

Faculty of Medicine, Departments of Histology

Acta Veterinaria

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Artemisinin, an antimalarial drug, has anticancer activity and possesses protective effects against several tissue injuries. The aim of the present study was...

Investigation of the Effects of Artemisinin on Testis and Kidney Injury Induced by Doxorubicin

Published Online: Jun 22, 2019

Page range: 177 - 191

Received: Feb 27, 2019

Accepted: May 17, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acve-2019-0014

Keywords
Artemisinin, Doxorubicin, Kidney, Rat, Testis

© 2019 Tutun Hidayet et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Investigation of the Effects of Artemisinin on Testis and Kidney Injury Induced by Doxorubicin

Published Online: Jun 22, 2019

Page range: 177 - 191

Received: Feb 27, 2019

Accepted: May 17, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acve-2019-0014

KeywordsArtemisinin, Doxorubicin, Kidney, Rat, Testis

© 2019 Tutun Hidayet et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Artemisinin, Doxorubicin, Kidney, Rat, Testis