nephropathy is widely encountered among the people of entire world irrespective of the age , racial , environmental , and geographical variability .
the etiology behind this complication is broad ranging from substance - induced to various metabolic and physiological disturbances , paneling nephropathy amongst the 10 leading causes of death across the world .
cisplatin ( cis - diaminedichloroplatinum ii , cddp ) is extensively used for the treatment of several cancers like testicular and lungs cancer .
unfortunately , the gracious drug cisplatin is conjoined with a brutal side effect since it induces nephrotoxicity .
, locally known as kanchana , belonging to the family caesalpiniaceae , is a widely distributed plant throughout the subtropical and tropical regions of the world .
it is used in abundance for medicinal and cattle feed purposes by the tribes of india and also being used in various indigenous systems of medicine like ayurveda and unani .
different parts of this plant are used traditionally in various ailments owing to its folkloric claims such as liver tonic , antibacterial , to suppress the edema , dysentery , ulcers , eye disease , skin diseases , piles , and hemorrhoids .
the stem of this plant is reported to contain many active phytochemicals including stigmasterol , flavone glycosides , lupeol , kaempferol-3-glucoside , -setosterol , etc . in this present context ,
the in vivo nephroprotective activity of the ethanolic extract of b. variegata ( bv ) whole stem was evaluated in albino male rats ( wistar strain ) .
the whole stem of bv was collected from young matured plant from bharatpur forest range , bhubaneswar , orissa , india , during the month of november and december and identified by dr .
, gopabandhu ayurvedic college , puri , orissa . the plant specimen ( vide voucher no . : 081 )
was deposited in herbarium of university department of pharmaceutical sciences , bhubaneswar , orissa , india .
after authentication fresh plant materials were collected in bulk , washed under running tap water to remove adherents , shade dried , and pulverized in a mechanical grinder to get coarse powder of bv whole stem .
healthy albino male rats of wistar strain weighing between 150 and 200 g were selected for the investigation .
the animals were kept under maintained laboratory conditions with adequate supply of drinking water ad libitum and pallet diet .
the experimental protocol was approved by the institutional animal ethics committee and the conditions in the animal house approved by committee for supervision on experiments on animals ( vide registration no . : 990/c/06/cpcsea ) .
about 200 g of coarse powder of bv whole stem was taken in a soxhlet apparatus and extracted successively with petroleum ether , chloroform , and ethanol .
the extraction for each solvent was carried out for 18 - -20 h. the ethanol extract was collected by evaporating the solvent by slow heat treatment .
total 1.4 kg of pulverized stem was used to produce the required amount of test extract .
calculated amount of dried ethanol extract was suspended in 0.5% w / v of sodium cmc in a normal saline solution to prepare the test doses ( 200 and 400 mg / kg / ml . ) .
the dose limits were selected on the basis of previously performed oral acute toxicity studies in mice , in accordance with the oecd guidelines .
group i ( normal control ) received oral dose of 0.5% sodium cmc ( 1 ml each ) for 14 days .
group ii ( toxic control ) received single dose of cisplatin ( 7 mg / kg of body weight ; i.p . ) on day 1 .
group iii ( standard group ) received standard polyherbal drug cystone ( 5 ml / kg ; p.o . )
bangalore , india ) for 14 days with single dose of cisplatin ( 7 mg / kg of body weight ; i.p . ) on day 1 , group iv ( eebv200 ) and group v ( eebv400 ) received ethanolic extract 200 and 400 mg / kg b.w . once in a day for 14 days respectively along with the single dose of cisplatin ( 7 mg / kg of body weight ; i.p . ) on day 1 .
urine was collected over 24 h on 14th day by keeping the test animals in individual metabolic cages .
the volume of collected urine samples was measured followed by estimation of biochemical parameters , namely urine creatinine and urine albumin .
blood samples were collected from the test animals under anesthesia ( phenobarbiton sodium ; 40 mg / kg of body weight ; i.p ) by cardiac puncture before sacrifice and serum parameters including creatinine , urea , albumin , and total protein were estimated .
the biochemical estimations were done in a biochemical - semi - auto analyzer ( ebra - chem-5-plus , v2 .
west germany ) by standard procedures using commercial kits ( ecolin : merck specialties , india ) .
the kidneys were removed from the rats before sacrifice and organs were fixed using a formosal solution ( 10% v / v of formaldehyde in normal saline ) , embedded with paraffin wax followed by preparation of tissue sections using a microtome for histopathology study .
statistical significance of data was assessed by analysis of variance ( one - way anova ) followed by a comparison between different groups using  tukey - kramer  multiple comparison test .
the toxic control group was compared with the normal control group and all other treatment groups were compared with the toxic control group .
data obtained in the experiment were expressed in terms of mean  sem . statistical significance of data was assessed by analysis of variance ( one - way anova ) followed by a comparison between different groups using  tukey - kramer  multiple comparison test .
the toxic control group was compared with the normal control group and all other treatment groups were compared with the toxic control group .
data obtained in the experiment were expressed in terms of mean  sem . statistical significance of data was assessed by analysis of variance ( one - way anova ) followed by a comparison between different groups using  tukey - kramer  multiple comparison test .
the toxic control group was compared with the normal control group and all other treatment groups were compared with the toxic control group .
the results as cited in table 1 includes change in body weight , kidney weight , urine volume along with the urine , and serum biochemistry data .
cisplatin administration - induced renal injury was prominent as evidenced by significantly depressed renal functions , body weight , and urine volume as compared to the normal control group .
parameters studied for the nephroprotective effect of the ethanol extract of bauhinia variegata the eebv400 group ( ethanolic extract 400 mg / kg treated rat group ) showed significant ( p<0.001 ) elevation in body weight ( 7.16  1.10 ) with a significant ( p<0.05 ) increase in urine volume output ( 11.95  0.79 ) . however , the urine creatinine ( 1.81  0.32 ) and albumin ( 0.31  0.06 ) decreased significantly ( p<0.01 ) as compared with the toxic control group .
the serum creatinine ( 0.65  0.09 ) and urea ( 32.86  5.88 ) were found to be significantly ( p<0.001 ) low when compared with the toxic control group .
the histological features found from the tissue sections of different groups are mentioned in table 2 and the photomicrographs of tissue sections are presented in figure 1a -- d .
the histopathology of tissue sections suggest that the toxic control group had encountered vast histological damages as evidenced by the glomerular and tubular congestion with abnormal bowman 's capsule , blood vessel congestion , epithelial cell desquamation , and presence of tubular cast with few inflamatory cells .
the histological features of the eebv400 group showed minimal cellular damage in contrast to the toxic control group .
histological features found from l.s of kidneys of different groups photomicrographas of l.s . of kidney of different groups ( a ) normal control group , ( b ) toxic control group , ( c ) standard group , ( d ) eebv400 group .
the present study aimed to evaluate the protective effect of whole stem extract ( ethanol ) of bv linn . plant against cisplatin - induced nephropathy in rats .
cisplatin - administered rats ( toxic control group ) had encountered acute kidney dysfunction as evidenced by elevation in serum urea and creatinine , decreased urine output and body weight with multiple histological damages .
treatment with the ethanol extract of bv at the dose level of 400 mg / kg b.w . for 14 days ( eebv400 group ) significantly lowered the serum level of creatinine and urea , decreased urine creatinine and albumin with a significant weight gain , and increased urine output when compared with the toxic group .
the histological damages in the bv extract - treated group were minimal in contrast to the toxic rats .
the statistical significance of the nephroprotective activity of bv - treated group and the polyherbal drug cystone ( standard group)-treated group ( both the groups were compared against toxic control ) were found almost equal as both groups gained same level of significance ( p<0.001 ) against the toxic group in most of the parameters including serum urea and creatinine .
the results of our study suggest that the ethanolic extract of bv possesses nephroprotective potential depending on the dose levels .
extensive and multidimensional further research is needed to elucidate the exact mechanism of nephroprotective action of this plant extract .
 the nephroprotective activity of the ethanolic extract of bauhinia variegata ( linn . ) whole stem against cisplatin - induced nephropathy was investigated by an in vivo method in rats . 
 acute nephrotoxicity was induced by i.p . 
 injection of cisplatin ( 7 mg / kg of body weight ( b.w . ) ) . 
 administration of ethanol extract at dose levels of 400 and 200 mg / kg ( b.w . ) to cisplatin - intoxicated rats for 14 days attenuated the biochemical and histological signs of nephrotoxicity of cisplatin in a dose - dependent fashion . 
 ethanol extract at 400 mg / kg decreased the serum level of creatinine ( 0.65  0.09 ; p<0.001 ) and urea ( 32.86  5.88 ; p<0.001 ) associated with a significant increase in body weight ( 7.16  1.10 ; p<0.001 ) and urine volume output ( 11.95  0.79 ; p<0.05 ) as compared to the toxic control group . 
 the ethanol extract of b. variegata at 400 mg / kg ( b.w . ) exhibited significant and comparable nephroprotective potential to that of the standard polyherbal drug cystone . 
 the statistically ( one - way - anova followed by tukey - kramer multiple comparison ) processed results suggested the protective action of b. variegate whole stem against cisplatin - induced nephropathy . 
Introduction
Material and Methods
None
Statistics
Results
Discussion