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There is a growing global interest in hypertension due to its associated complications including renal dysfunction in patients. The thyroid system reportedly regulates renal function in both animal and human. The present study investigated the therapeutic efficacy of taurine on renal and thyroid dysfunctions in hypertensive rats. Hypertension was induced by oral administration of nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, N-nitro L-arginine-methyl-ester (L-NAME), at 40 mg/kg body weight to the male Wistar rats for 14 consecutive days. The hypertensive rats were subsequently treated with either taurine (100 and 200 mg/kg) or reference drug atenolol (10 mg/kg) for another 14 consecutive days. Hypertensive rats showed renal damage evidenced by elevated plasma creatinine and urea levels when compared with normotensive control rats. Furthermore, L-NAME-induced hypertensive rats showed decreased circulatory concentrations of thyroid stimulating hormone, thyroxine, triiodothyronine and the ratio of triiodothyronine to thyroxine. The marked decrease in the renal antioxidant enzyme activities and nitric oxide level was accompanied by significant increase in myeloperoxidase activity and biomarkers of oxidative stress in hypertensive rats. Histological examination of kidneys from hypertensive rats revealed congestion of blood vessels, hemorrhagic lesion and disorganized glomerular structure. However, treatment with taurine or atenolol significantly reversed the suppression of thyroid function, ameliorated renal oxidative stress and histopathological lesions in L-NAME-induced hypertensive rats. Taurine may be a useful chemotherapeutic supplement in enhancing renal and thyroid functions in hypertensive patients.

Vitellaria paraodoxa (shea tree) is the source of shea seed from which the well-known shea butter is derived. The methanol extract of shea seed was evaluated for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities using diclofenac sodium and ascorbic acid as standard respectively in in vitro methods. The anti-inflammatory activity was determined by inhibition of protein denaturation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and erythrocyte membrane stabilization of human red blood cell. The antioxidant activity was evaluated using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) assays. The results showed that methanol extract of V. paradoxa seed at different concentration protects the heat induced protein denaturation with the maximum percentage inhibition of 27% (IC50=303.0 µg/mL, p<0.05) at 500µg/mL compared to the standard drug which induced maximum inhibition of 45% (IC50=261.4 µg/mL, p<0.05) at 500 µg/mL and the control. The percentage inhibition of the methanol extract and standard drug in erythrocyte stabilization assay increased in a concentration dependent manner with maximum inhibitory activity of 96.9% (IC50=31.47 µg/mL, p<0.05) and 95% (IC50=33.89 µg/mL, p<0.05) at 2000 µg/ml respectively, which indicates that methanol extract stabilized erythrocyte membrane against hypotonic induced hemolysis in a blood sample better than the standard drug. The maximum percentage inhibition of methanol extract and standard drug in DPPH assay were found to be at 97% (IC50=8.95 µg/mL, p<0.05) and 98% (IC50=6.72 µg/mL, p<0.05) respectively at 100 µg/ml. The absorbance of the reductive capacities in FRAP assay indicates that the methanol extract has higher reducing potency in a concentration dependent manner. The methanol extract exhibited total antioxidant capacity of 0.25 ± 0.04 µg/(AAE/g) when compared to the standard drug 0.87 ± 0.03 µg/(AAE/g) at highest concentration of 100 µg/ml. For TBARS assay, low absorbance value indicate a high level of inhibition of lipid peroxidation. The maximum percentage inhibition of methanol extract was 97.5 % (IC50=51.79 µg/mL, p<0.05) and ascorbic acid was 99% (IC50=52.30 µg/mL, p<0.05) at concentration of 20 µg/ml. The assay indicates that the methanol extract has higher inhibiting potency in a reverse concentration dependent manner. In conclusion, V. paradoxa seed may possess strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities which could constitute a potential source for development of new therapy.

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