Eugenol attenuates paraquat-induced hepatic and renal biomarker dysregulation in wistar rats: a dose-dependent protective assessment

Abstract

Paraquat is a toxic herbicide, posing a severe health risk at minimal exposure. This experiment evaluated the efficacy of eugenol on PQ-dysregulation of hepato-renal biomarkers in Wistar rats. 32 Wistar rats from the AE-FUNAI animal house were acclimatized for 14 days and divided into four groups of 8 rats per Group. Group A served as normal control, while Groups B, C, and D received 10 mg/kg of paraquat for 28 days at one-day intervals. Group C and D were later treated with 300 mg/kg and 600 mg/kg of eugenol, respectively, for 14 days. After sacrifice, the liver and kidneys were harvested. A lobe of the liver and one of the kidneys were removed and homogenized separately to estimate hepato-renal biomarkers such as creatinine, urea, cystatin, phosphatase, amino acid-leucine, β-trace protein, albumin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), Total protein (TP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), bicarbonate and prothrombin time (PrT). Paraquat significantly increased LDH, PrT, ALT, β-trace protein, cystatin, leucine and ALP while lowering AST, albumin, creatinine, urea, phosphatase, bicarbonate and TP (p<0.05). In the eugenol group, ALT decreased at 600 mg, ALP increased at 300 mg, AST increased at 600 mg relative to 300 mg, albumin and TP increased at 600 mg, LDH decreased at 600 mg relative to 300 mg, creatinine and urea increased at 600 mg relative to 300 mg, Cystatin and β-trace protein decreased at 600 mg relative to 300 mg, phosphate and HCO₃⁻ increased at 600 mg relative to 300 mg, and amino acid-leucine decreased at 300 mg (p<0.05). These findings show that eugenol is very efficacious against paraquat-induced hepato-renal toxicity that leads to the dysregulation of biomarkers.