Protective Effects of Thymus vulgaris Essential Oil Against Voliam Targo® Induced Kidney and Brain Toxicity in Male Rabbits

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 -Departement of Biology, Faculty of Nature and Life Science, University Blida 1, BP 270- Soumaa- Blida- Algeria -Natural Resources Laboratory, University Mouloud Mammeri, BP 15017. Tizi-Ouzou. Algeria

2 Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Valorisation of Biomasse. Ecole Normale Supérieure. Vieux Kouba. P.O.Box 92, 16050 Alger, Algeria

3 Departement of Biology, Faculty of Nature and Life Science, University Blida 1, BP 270- Soumaa- Blida- Algeria

4 Natural Resources Laboratory, University Mouloud Mammeri, BP 15017. Tizi-Ouzou. Algeria

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the protective effects of Thymus vulgaris essential oil against kidney and brain toxicity induced by an abamectin-based insecticide Voliam targo® (VT) in male rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). The extraction of the essential oil from T. vulgaris (TEO) by hydrodistillation allowed us to obtain an essential oil with a yield of 0.30 and the characterization of this essential oil by GC / MS indicates that the major component is carvacrol (86.25%). Twenty rabbits were randomly allocated to four equal groups and treated for 21 consecutive days: Control group, VT-group (4 mg ABA kg−1 body weight), TEO-group (0.5 mg kg−1 body weight), and VT + TEO-group (0.5 mg kg−1 body weight of TEO plus the same dose of VT). Our results revealed that the administration of VT resulted in a statistically significant (p < 0.05) increase in serum creatinine and uric acid levels as compared to the control group. Voliam targo® was found to induce histopathological alterations in the kidney, namely dilatation and congestion of blood vessels, dilatation of proximal and distal tubules and lymphocytes infiltration within the renal cortical interstitium. Furthermore, the subacute exposure to VT resulted in neurotoxic effects on the cerebral cortex, the hippocampus and the cerebellum of treated rabbits. However, co-administration of Thymus vulgaris essential oil significantly reversed renal function biomarkers to near normal levels and improved morphological changes of the kidney and brain tissues. The present results indicate that carvacrol-rich thyme essential oil exerts protective effects against VT-induced renal and neuro-toxicity.

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