Renoprotective Effects of Bitter Leaf (Vernonia Amygdalina) Extracts on Metabolic Syndrome in Albino Wistar Rats

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is still a major problem of modern clinical medicine. It has been noted that there is an existing link between all forms of chronic and acute kidney injury, and increased effects of metabolic syndrome, during injury progression. This present study evaluates the renoprotective effects of bitter leaf extracts in metabolic syndrome in rats. Twenty (20) albino rats were grouped into A-D and received the following treatments on a daily basis for 4 weeks; for group A (negative control), the rats received oral administration of Ghee + high cholesterol diet (HCD) + sucrose solution (SS) without treatment. Group B (low dose group) received Ghee + HCD + SS + Low dose MEVA (200mg/kg, oral). Group C (high dose group) received Ghee + HCD + SS + High dose MEVA (400mg/kg, oral). Group D which is the normal group received no form of intoxicant or treatment. Kidney injury was assessed through biochemical analyses of serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), Na+ and K+ assay. Data analysis was done using GraphPad prism version 7.0 and results from biochemical analysis were done using mean ± SEM. The level of significance was tested using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by the Turkey post hoc analysis and the probability levels <0.05 were considered significant. Administration of Ghee + HCD + SS caused an increase in renal biochemical parameters, thus: BUN (37.92 ± 4.21 mg/dl), Creatinine (1.62 ± 0.04 mg/dl), K+ (7.68 ± 0.09 mmol/l), Na+ (135.41 ± 0.23 mmol/l). Oral administration of low dose of MEVA improved the kidney function as seen through the following results: BUN (21.75 ± 3.48 mg/dl), Creatinine (1.04 ± 0.05 mg/dl), K+ (5.92 ± 0.24 mmol/l), Na+ (140.02 ± 3.10 mmol/l). Administration of a high dose MEVA greatly improved the kidney function as thus: BUN (21.68 ± 1.09 mg/dl), Creatinine (0.92 ± 0.19 mg/dl), K+ (6.19 ± 0.76 mmol/l), Na+ (143.88 ± 0.35 mmol/l). The study reveals that bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) extracts have a renoprotective effect in metabolic syndrome.