NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF BORIC ACID ON BRAIN AGAİNST RENAL ISCHEMIA/REPERFUSION INJURY

OBJECTIVES: Renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) may cause distant tissue damage.Boric acid (BA) with antioxidant properties is suggested to be a protective agentagainst I/R injury. The aim of this study was to investigate the neuroprotectiveeffects of boric acid on brain against renal I/R induced oxidative damage.MATERIALS and METHODS: 35 rats were divided into five groups: sham,I/R, I/R+50mg/kg BA, I/R+100mg/kg BA and I/R+200mg/kg BA. Shamgroup was only subjected to surgical stress procedure. In I/R group, leftrenal artery was isolated and ischemia was induced for 45 minutes withatraumatic vascular clamp, then followed by 24-hour reperfusion. In I/R+BA groups, BA was administered intraperitoneally 10 minutes beforereperfusion, unlike the I/R group. In rat brain tissues MDA levels, GSHlevels, SOD activities and NO levels were measured spectrophotometrically.RESULTS: Renal I/R caused a significant increase in MDA and NO levels ascompared to the values of the control group (P<0.01), but caused a decrease in GSHlevels and SOD activities.Conversely, rats treated with BA prior to reperfusionshowed a significant reduction in the brain MDA and NO levels as compared torenal I/R group, on the other hand was an increase in GSH levels and SOD activities.CONCLUSIONS: This study showed protective effects of BA on brain tissueagainst renal I/R injury. BA treatment can decrease lipid peroxidation levelsand increase antioxidant enzymes activities in brain hippocampus of renal I/Rinduced rats. Our results indicate that BA is useful for brain function maintainingin renal I/R induced rats.Keywords: Renal Ischemia/Reperfusion, Brain, Boric Acid, Oxidative Damage,Neurodegeneration