Evaluation of the potential nephrotoxicity and mechanism in rats after long-term exposure to the traditional Tibetan medicine tsothel.

ABSTRACT:

Context

Tsothel, a traditional Tibetan medicine, is regarded as 'the king of essences'. Nevertheless, tsothel has aroused serious concern regarding its biosafety because its main component is HgS. Unfortunately, toxicological studies on tsothel are scarce.

Objective

As inorganic mercury has high affinity for the kidney, the present investigation was designed to determine the potential nephrotoxicity and mechanism of tsothel.

Materials and methods

Sprague-Dawley rats were orally administered different doses of tsothel (0, 66.70, 33.35 and 16.68 mg/kg) daily for 180 days, followed by the withdrawal of tsothel for 120 days. Then, the related nephrotoxicity was examined by the ICP-MS, ELISA, colorimetric, RT-PCR, HE staining, immunohistochemical staining and flow cytometr

SUBMITTER: Xiang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6300085 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature