Background: Renal injury following ischemia - reperfusion (I/R) is still an unavoidable problem in many remedial and medical situations. Portulaca oleracea (PO) has been known for its anti-oxidative effects. Then, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of ethanolic extract of PO (EEPO) on the renal function and antioxidant status after induction of I/R injury in the rat kidney.

Materials and Methods: A total of 30 rats (Wistar) were divided into five groups (n = 6 each). Sham group: underwent laparotomy without I/R, EEPO group: EEPO administered 300 mg/kg then was operated like sham, I/R group: was underwent renal ischemia/reperfusion only, EEPO150+ I/R and AEPO300+ I/R groups: were administered PO 150 and 300 mg/kg then underwent I/R operation. PO extract was administered for 5 days in the relevant groups by gavage. Serum urea and creatinine (Scr), the level of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH) and total antioxidant activity (TAA) were determined. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and post hoc LSD test. P values of 0.05 or less were considered statistically significant.

Results: Induction of I/R and pretreatment with PO extract, increased the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in comparison with sham group (p<0.05, p<0.001). There were no significant differences in the levels of MDA, GSH and TAA among different groups. On the other hand, the Scr and serum urea of the I/R and treated groups were elevated compared to the sham group (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Ethanolic extract of PO did not strongly affect the renal antioxidant status and could not prevent the renal injury following I/R.

Abstract

Background: The injuries of peripheral nervous system cause the death of a number of motor cells of the spinal cord. Neurotrophins family genes such as NT3 involve in neuronal survive after nerve injury and their expression changes after it. With due attention to the expansion of portulaca pleracea in the world study was conducted to determine the effects of alcoholic and aqueous extracts of Potulaca oleracea on the NT3 gene expression after sciatic nerve compression in rat.

Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 88 male wistar rats that randomly were divided in 13 groups of 6 each. They consisted of control group, 4 compression groups (The sciatic nerve was compressed with locker pincer) and 8 treatment groups: compression + treatment with dose of 75 mg/kg of alcoholic and aqueous extract of Portulaca oleracea on days 1 and 7 (never compression was done on the first day). In all groups, Total RNA was extracted from the lumbar spinal cord segment in 1, 7, 14, 28 days and cDNA was synthesized, then NT3 expression changes were compared in groups.

Results: There was a significant increase in NT3 gene expression in the compression group compared to control (p<0.001). The NT3 gene expression shows significant increase (p<0.05) in the treatment groups with alcoholic extract (except 1& 28 days). Also, there was no significant difference in gene expression between treatment group with acqueous extract and compression group in 1 and 7 days. A significant decrease was seen in the treatment groups with aqueous extract of purslane compared to compression (p<0.05). The NT3 gene expression shows significant increase in the treatment groups with alcoholic extract compared to treatment groups with aqueous extract in all days (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The results reveal the Portulaca oleracea leaves extracts increase the NT3 gene expression after sciatic nerve injury. This effect is more in alcoholic extract than aqueous extract.