Zinc oxide nanoparticles and spironolactone-enhanced Nrf2/HO-1 pathway and inhibited Wnt/β-catenin pathway in adenine-induced nephrotoxicity in rats.

Objective: To investigate the renoprotective, the antioxidant, and the anti-inflammatory impact of a combination of SPL and ZnO-NPs to combat against chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Methods: In total, 50 males of rats were distributed into 5 groups (10 rats each); normal group, adenine sulfate (0.25% in diet for 10 days) (CKD) group. After the last dose of adenine sulfate, rats were divided into three groups: SPL + Adenine sulfate group; rats were treated orally by mixing SPL (20 mg/kg/day) into chow for 8 weeks, ZnO-NPs + Adenine sulfate group; rats were injected intraperitoneally with ZnO-NPs (5 mg/kg) three times weekly for 8 weeks, ZnO-NPs + SPL + Adenine sulfate group; rats were injected with the same previous doses for 8 weeks.

Results: Each of SPL and ZnO-NPs up-regulated antioxidant genes ( and ), down-regulated fibrotic and inflammatory genes (, and ) compared to CKD. Furthermore, a combination of SPL and ZnO-NPs resulted in a greater improvement in the measured parameters than a single treatment.

Conclusion: The therapeutic role of SPL was enhanced by the antioxidant and the anti-inflammatory role of ZnO-NPs, which presented a great renoprotective effect against CKD.