Nephroprotective potential of selenium and taurine against mercuric chloride induced nephropathy in rats.

The study was aimed to estimate whether pre-treatment with sodium selenite or taurine would reverse kidney damage induced by intraperitoneal injection of mercuric chloride in rats. Animals were divided into six groups: (1) control group; (2) sodium selenite group; (3) taurine group; (4) HgCl2 group; (5) sodium selenite pretreated group; (6) taurine pretreated group. The results demonstrated that HgCl2 causes significant enhancement in serum malondialdehyde (MDA), creatinine, N-acetyl-beta-d-glucosaminidase (NAG), cystatin C, nephrin and interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels accompanied with significant reduction in serum nitric oxide (NO) level. Pretreatment with sodium selenite or taurine produces significant depletion in MDA, NAG, cystatin C, nephrin and IL-6 levels in concomitant with significant elevation in serum NO level as compared to HgCl2 group. HgCl2 induced pathological alterations in the kidney. The ultrastructural investigation of renal cortex of HgCl2-administered group revealed that the glomerular basement membrane is uniform, the fenestrations of endothelial cells are swollen, and the secondary foot processes appear also swollen even fused at some points. The proximal convoluted tubules showed apical short and few microvilli, while, some tubular cells showed relatively normal microvilli. In contrast, sodium selenite or taurine pretreatment could significantly reduce the pathological alterations in the kidney caused by HgCl2 intoxication. The current results suggested that selenium and taurine possess nephroprotective efficacy due to their antioxidative capacity and anti-inflammatory activity.