Protective Role of Agrimonia eupatoria L. in Heavy Metal Induced Nephrotoxicity

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential protective role of Agrimonia eupatoria L. in heavy metal induced nephrotoxicity. Rabbit kidney epithelial cells (RK13) were used as the model cell line. They were exposed to three different heavy metal compounds: cadmium chloride dihydrate CdCl2.2H2O (15 and 20 mg.l−1), potassium dichromate K2Cr2O7 (1, 10 mg.l−1), and zinc sulfate heptahydrate ZnSO4.7H2O (50, 150 mg.l−1) simultaneously with agrimony (ethanolic extract, 100 mg.l−1). The cell response was recorded using the xCELLigence system or real-time cell analysis (RTCA) as a cell index (CI) and expressed as cell adherence (%) compared to control cells without treatment. The potential nephroprotective effects were recorded in cells treated with chromium (1 a 10 mg.l−1) and agrimony, where the cell adherence increased from 95.11 ± 11.25 % and 7.24 ± 0.33 % to 103.26 ± 1.23 % and 68.54 ± 4.89 % (P < 0.05) respectfully and also with a combination of agrimony and zinc (150 mg.l−1), where the adherence increased from 57.45 ± 1.98 % to 95.4 ± 6.95 %. During the cell exposure to cadmium in combination with agrimony, the protective effect was not recorded; the adherence of cells was even decreased (P < 0.05).