Cisplatin (Cis) is one of the most widely used cytotoxic therapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer. Overdose of the drug resulted in various side effects of genotoxicity and nephrotoxicity. The toxicity of the drug has been attributed to the generation of oxidative free radicals. The current study aims to explore the effect of Ferulic acid (FA) in ameliorating Cis-induced renal toxicity in tumor bearing Swiss albino mice. Nephrotoxicity was induced in tumor bearing mice by a single dose of Cis (12mg/kg, i.p). Post administration of FA was carried out (100 mg/kg p.o and 200 mg/kg p.o) one hour after Cis administration. Toxicity was measured by analyzing the amount of serum urea, creatinine, and antioxidant status of renal and tumor tissues. Treatment of cisplatin-administered tumor animals with the FA could prevent the drug-induced oxidative damage as evidenced by the decreased levels of lipid peroxidation and enhanced activities of the antioxidants in the renal tissues. The treatment also protected the renal tissues from the toxic effects of Cis by reducing the levels of serum urea and creatinine. FA protected the renal tissues, whereas it enhanced the anticancer efficacy of Cis in tumor tissues. The histopathological observations support that ferulic acid has a protective effect against Cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and can be used to improve the chemotherapeutic index of Cisplatin for cancer treatment.

Ferulic acid is an abundant phytophenolic compound present in plant cell wall. Ferulic acid possess anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-aging properties. A simple, sensitive and reproducible spectrophotometric method has been developed for quantitative estimation of ferulic acid from selected plant materials such as rice bran, wheat bran and bamboo shoot. The blue coloured chromogen obtained after the reaction was measured at wavelength of  718 nm for ferulic acid against the blank reagent. The chromogen obeyed linearity over the range of 1?g/ml - 8?g/ml. An HPLC method was also developed for the estimation of ferulic acid from selected plant materials.