Anti-ischemic drug trimetazidine blocks mercury nephrotoxicity by suppressing renal redox imbalance, inflammatory stress and caspase-dependent apoptosis in rats.

Trimetazidine (TMZ) is a promising emerging therapeutic piperazine derivative for renal pathologies. However, the nephroprotective mechanism of TMZ against heavy metal-induced toxicity is unknown. This study, therefore, aimed to explore whether TMZ could mitigate mercury-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. Rats were injected TMZ (3 mg/kg bw) and/or mercury chloride (HgCl 2 ) (4 mg/kg bw) for 4 days (n = 6 rats per group). The blood analysis revealed marked increases in creatinine, urea and uric acid levels in HgCl 2 group compared to the control. HgCl 2 induced prominent decreases in renal superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxide (GPx) activities compared to the control followed by marked increases in the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), caspase-3 and caspase-9. Whereas the renal levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) reduced considerably compared to the control. Contrarily, it was found that in the rats administered TMZ + HgCl 2 , levels of renal markers, MDA, TNF-α, IL-6 and caspases-3/-9 were prominently reduced compared to the HgCl 2 group. The renal SOD, CAT, GPx, IL-4, and IL-10 were markedly elevated along with ameliorated histopathological lesions. On the whole, therefore, TMZ could be repurposed for blocking HgCl 2 nephrotoxicity via inhibition of oxidative inflammation and apoptosis in rats.