Protective effects of corn silk extract administration on gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity in rat

The objective of this study was to evaluate effect of corn silk against gentamicin (GM)-induced nephrotoxicity. Sixty Wistar rats were divided into ten equal groups as follow: (1) control group, 0.1 ml/kg given intraperitoneally (i.p.) per day of isotonic saline. (2) GM group, 100 mg/kg i.p. per day of GM. (3) corn silk groups (3–6), 200, 300, 400, and 500 mg/kg, i.p. (4) Corn silk + GM groups (7–10), corn silk extract was injected the same as corn silk groups and after1 h, 100 mg/kg GM was injected i.p. to rats. All animals were treated for 8 days. Plasma creatinine and urea levels significantly increased in GM group. Corn silk administration (200 and 300 mg/kg) with GM injection significantly decreased serum creatinine, but not urea, levels compared with GM group. Acute tubular necrosis (ATN), hyaline casts in tubular lumen, interstitial nephritis, and glomerular changes were histopathologically detected in the GM group. Co-treatment of corn silk with GM considerably decreased the interstitial nephritis, but not ATN and hyaline casts formation, compared with the GM group. Also, high dose of corn silk caused hyaline cast formation, apoptosis, congestion, and swelling of renal tubules. In conclusion, the results showed that corn silk may ameliorate nephropathy during prolonged therapeutic use of GM and related aminoglycosides.