Pharmacological effect of Kalpaamruthaa on renal and cardiac damage induced by ingestion of aflatoxin B1 studied in wistar rats

The aim of the study was to investigate the therapeutic effect of Kalpaamruthaa (KA), an herbal medicine against aflatoxicosis induced by aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in both kidneys and hearts of rats. Administration of AFB1 induces oxidative stress in AFB1-treated rats through elevating the levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine, renal markers enzymes, malondialdehyde (MDA) and depleting the levels of tissue antioxidants, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GR) and non-enzymatic antioxidants like reduced glutathione (GSH), vitamin C and vitamin E in kidney and heart. Also the result revealed that aflatoxicosis interferes with the cellular energy supply of rat hearts through its inhibitory action on some markers of energy metabolism indicated by a decrease in glycogen contents of heart and a reduction in the activities of some glycolytic enzymes, hexokinase (HK) phosphogluco-isomerase (PGI), glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) compared to normal healthy animals. Oral treatment of KA showed significant ameliorative effects on all the biochemical studies in response to AFB1 administration. From the current investigation, it can be suggested that treatment with KA was beneficial in modulating the alterations induced in kidney and heart under the toxic effects of AFB1.