Protective effect of alpha lipoic acid on diabetic nephropathy in rats

Objective: To evaluate the protective role of alpha lipoic acid in rats affected with experimentally-induced diabetes and secondarily complicated with nephropathy. Design: Randomized controlled study. Animals: Forty-eight Sprague Dawley rats. Procedures: Rats were allocated randomly into four groups (12 each); Control rats (Group 1); alpha lipoic acid (ALA) supplemented rats (Group 2); rats with induced diabetic nephropathy (Group 3), and rats with diabetic nephropathy and supplemented with alpha lipoic acid (Group 4). After one month of experimental induction, serum, plasma and renal tissue samples were harvested to determine glycemic status, renal damage markers, antioxidant status, oxidative and nitrosative stress markers, apoptotic marker and histopathology of kidney tissues. Results: In comparison with non-supplemented diabetic rats, alpha lipoic acid reduced renal malondialdehyde (5.74± 0.26 vs 11.3± 1.96 nmol/g. tissue) and renal nitric oxide (30.06± 2.07 vs 36.6± 1.07 nmol/g. tissue). ALA significantly improved the antioxidant enzyme activity (catalase and reduced glutathione), glycemic status, and decreased caspase 3 concentration (P<0.05). Conclusion and clinical relevance: Alpha lipoic acid may be an alternative intervention to alleviate nephropathy as a complication of diabetes. Further studies need to be done in naturally occurring cases.