Royal jelly attenuates cadmium-induced nephrotoxicity in male mice

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 5825
• Main Authors: Almeer, Rafa S., AlBasher, Gadah I., Alarifi, Saud, Alkahtani, Saad, Ali, Daoud, Abdel Moneim, Ahmed E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 09.04.2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 13; 14; 14/63; 38/77; 631/443/272; 692/308/153; 82/51; 82/80; Acute Kidney Injury - chemically induced; Acute Kidney Injury - drug therapy; Acute Kidney Injury - prevention & control; Animals; Antioxidants; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - drug effects; Bcl-2 protein; Cadmium; Cadmium - toxicity; Cadmium chloride; Cadmium Poisoning - drug therapy; Cadmium Poisoning - prevention & control; Enzymatic activity; Fatty Acids - pharmacology; Glutathione; Humanities and Social Sciences; IL-1β; Inflammation - chemically induced; Insect Hormones - pharmacology; Kidney - pathology; Kidneys; Lipid peroxidation; Male; Metallothionein; Mice; multidisciplinary; Nitric oxide; Oxidative stress; Oxidative Stress - drug effects; Peroxidation; Protective Agents - pharmacology; Regulatory sequences; Rodents; Royal jelly; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tumor necrosis factor-α
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-42368-7

Cadmium exposure induces nephrotoxicity by mediating oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis. The purpose of this study was to examine the protective effect of royal jelly on Cd-induced nephrotoxicity. Adult male mice were distributed randomly into 4 clusters: untreated, royal jelly-treated (85 mg/kg, oral), CdCl 2 -treated (6.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneal), and pretreated with royal jelly (85 mg/kg) 2 h before CdCl 2 injection (6.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) for seven consecutive days. Cd concentration in the renal tissue and absolute kidney weight of the Cd-treated mice were significantly higher than those of control group. The levels of kidney function markers, kidney injury molecules-1 (KIM-1), metallothionein, lipid peroxidation, nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and the apoptosis regulators Bax and caspases-3 also increased significantly in the renal tissue of Cd-treated mice, whereas the levels of glutathione, antioxidant enzyme activities, and the apoptosis inhibitor Bcl-2 were significantly reduced in the renal tissue of Cd-treated group. Histopathological studies showed vacuolation and congested glomeruli in the kidney tissue of Cd-treated mice. However, all aforementioned Cd-induced changes were attenuated by pretreatment with royal jelly. We therefore concluded that royal jelly attenuated Cd-induced nephrotoxicity and it is suggested that this nephroprotective effect could be linked to its ability to promote the nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 (Nrf2)/antioxidant responsive element (ARE) pathway.