Abstract :
Curcumin has several medical importance e.g. against biliary disorders, anorexia, hepatic disorders, sinusitis, diabetic wounds and rheumatism. The current study was designated to examine the possible valuable effects of curcumin in preventing acute renal failure and related oxidative stress caused by chronic administration of cyclosporine in rats. The study included two experiments; the first one was carried out to follow up the changes that could occur in the kidney function as a result of cyclosporine administration. Cyclosporine administration exerted significant elevation of serum urea, creatinine, potassium, parathormone, malodialdehyde and dimethylarginine. Meanwhile, cyclosporine showed significant decline in the level of serum sodium and total nitric oxide, the content of kidney reduced glutathione and the activities of glutathione peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase versus the levels in normal rats. In the second experiments, the nephritic rats were treated with curcumin and remarkable changes have been occurred on those parameters. It was concluded that curcumin has a beneficial effect as antioxidant against the oxidative stress and renal dysfunction which induced by chronic administration of cyclosporine in rats.