Beta-Sitosterol Protects the Kidneys Against Nephrotoxicity

By Kyle J. Norton

The kidneys are essential bean shape organ of our body, located just below the rib cage, one on each side of your spine.

Kidneys play a critical role in filtering blood with billions of glomeruli by separating the cells of blood from plasma and reabsorb back substances, and secret waste such as urea and ammonium that are stored into pelvis then into the ureter to the bladder.

Furthermore, kidneys also process the functions that regulate electrolytes, blood pressure, maintains acid-base balance, produce hormone calcitriol, renin, and erythropoietin, etc.

In the urinary system, the kidney also reabsorbed back substances into the blood, while other wastes, such as urea and ammonium are stored into pelvis then into the ureter to the bladder.

Nephrotoxicity or acute kidney failure is a condition of toxicity in the kidneys.

The disease is caused by a poisonous effect of prolonged use of certain medications and the accumulation of harmful chemicals.

According to the American physician association, long term use of penicillins, cephalosporins, sulfonamides, thiazide diuretics, furosemide, NSAIDs and rifampicin are associated to increase damage to the kidney.

And people with age over 60 are at increased risk of nephrotoxicity if the above medicines are prescribed for prolonged periods.

The most common symptoms of nephrotoxicity decreased urine output, fluid retention, causing swelling in your legs, ankles or feet, weakness, fatigue, and irregular heartbeat.

In severe cases, patients may also experience symptoms of shortness of breath, and confusion.
acute nephrotoxicity.

Beta-Sitosterol is a phytochemical in the class of Phytosterols, belongings to the group of Lipids, found abundantly in avocados, rice bran, wheat germ, corn oils, fennel, peanuts, soybeans, hawthorn, basil, buckwheat. etc.

On finding a potential phytochemical for the prevention and treatment of kidney diseases, researchers evaluated the nephroprotective effect of β-sitosterol against nephrotoxicants, using renal function markers, antioxidant and lipid peroxidation status, and inflammatory markers.

The study included male albino Wistar rats that were randomly grouped into four:
* Group 1 was vehicle control rats (0.1% carboxymethyl cellulose [CMC]); 

* Group 2 was rats treated with N-diethylnitrosamine (DEN) (200 mg/kg body weight [bw] i.p. on the 15th day) and ferric nitrilotriacetate (Fe-NTA) (9 mg/kg BW i.p. on 30th and 32nd days);

* Group 3 was rats that received β-sitosterol (20 mg/kg BW in 0.1% CMC, p.o. for 32 days) 2 weeks prior to the exposure to the nephrotoxic; and

* Group 4 was rats that received β-sitosterol alone

According to the chemical analysis, after the experiments were terminated after the 24 h of the last dosage of Fe-NTA, and all the animals were sacrificed, 

* All the parameters showed significant changes in DEN and Fe-NTA treated animals.

* β-sitosterol pretreated animals' altered biochemical parameters were restored to near normal.

More precisely, β-sitosterol activated the expression of antioxidant enzymes enhancer Nrf2 gene expression against renal oxidative stress markers.

The administration of β-sitosterol exerted a strong protective effect in biochemical parameters against nephrotoxicity induced rats, according to the histopathological and immunohistochemical observations,

Taken altogether, beta-Sitosterol may be considered a supplement for the prevention and treatment of obese neral toxicity, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of beta-Sitosterol in the form of supplements should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.


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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources

(1) Nephroprotective effect of β-sitosterol on N-diethylnitrosamine initiated and ferric nitrilotriacetate promoted acute nephrotoxicity in Wistar rats by Sharmila R, Sindhu G, Arockianathan PM. (PubMed)