PREVENTION OF NEPHROTOXICITY BY CURCUMIN IN CHEMICALLY INDUCED OSTEOARTHRITIS

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disorder resulting in degeneration of cartilage and osteophytes formation. Non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs are commonly used drugs to alleviate the pain in most of the chronic inflammatory conditions like osteoarthritis. These drugs alleviate the pain by inhibiting the synthesis of prostaglandins. Although these drugs reduce the pain, they have several limitations as they cause nephrotoxicity. In recent years several works have been carried out to improve the therapeutic strategy in osteoarthritis. The present study was carried out to investigate the role of curcumin in osteoarthritis when it is used as an adjuvant to Diclofenac sodium. Osteoarthritis was induced by administering nalidixic acid. Animals were divided into 5 groups and were treated accordingly. Group I was considered as control, group II animals were disease control i.e they were induced with osteoarthritis and were given no treatment. Group III animals were induced with Osteoarthritis and were treated with diclofenac sodium. Group IV animals were induced with osteoarthritis and were treated with the combination of diclofenac sodium and curcumin. Group V animals were pre-treated with curcumin and then induced with osteoarthritis. Parameters like Serum creatinine levels, serum uric acid levels, serum potassium levels, serum ALP levels, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), urine potassium, urine creatinine, urine output, kidney weight were estimated. Histopathological studies were also carried out. Animals treated with curcumin along with the standard drug or animals with pretreated curcumin have shown fewer incidences of nephrotoxicity. Histopathology also supports low incidence of nephrotoxicity in those animals. It demonstrates that curcumin when used along with the conventional NSAIDs as an adjuvant therapy has a role in treating osteoarthritis effectively. Key words: Osteoarthritis, nephrotoxicity, nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs, curcumin and prostaglandins.