INTRODUCTION:

Butea monosperma is commonly known as flame of forest is a medium sized tree belongs to family fabaceae. It is locally called as modugu (telugu), Parasu (Tamil), Muthuga (Kanada), palas (Bengali) and the plant is widely distributed throughout india and Burma. The flowers form a gorgeous canopy on the upper portion of the tree, giving the appearance of a flame from a distance. The main constituent of the flower is, Triterpene ^1,several flavonoids butein, butin, isobutrin, coreopsin, isocoreopsin (butin 7-glucoside), sulphurein, monospermoside (butein 3-e-D-glucoside) and isomonospermoside, chalcones,aurones, isobutyine, palasitrin, 3',4',7- trihydroxyflavone ^2. Myricyl alcohol, stearic, palmitic, arachidic and lignoceric acids³ glucose, fructose, histidine, aspartic acid, alanine and phenylalanine⁴. The bright colour of the flower is due to presence of chaclones and aurones. Flowers are useful in diarrhoea, astringent, diuretic, depurative and tonic and also used to treat leprosy, gout, skin diseases, thirst burning sensation, flower juice is useful in eye diseases. It is bitter, aphrodiasic, expectorant, diuretic, inflammation, and gonorrhea.BMF have been reported to possess antihyperglycemic,⁵hepatoprotective⁶ and antidiabetic activities⁷

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Fresh flowers were collected from the herbal garden of Balaji Institute of Pharmaceutical sciences (BIPS), Narsampet, Warangal and authenticated as Butea monosperma and the voucher specimen no F-308 of the plant has been preserved in the Department of Pharmacognosy, BIPS, Narasampet, Warangal

Preliminary Phytochemical Screening:

The methanol extract was subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening for their presence or absence of active Phytochemical constituents by the various methods such as alkaloids test, carbohydrates, steroids, proteins, tannins, phenols, flavanoids, gums and mucilage, glycosides, saponins and test for terpenes.

Animals:

Male wister albino rats weighing (150-200g) were obtained from Coimbatore medical college, Coimbatore. They were maintained at standard housing conditions and fed with commercial diet and provided with water ad libitum during the experiment. The Institutional animal ethics committee (Reg No.160/1999/CPCSEA) permitted the study.

Acute Oral Toxicity study:

Acute toxicity was carried out using female albino rats (150-200g) by up and down/stair case method as per OECD guidelines. The extract was orally administered to different groups of rats at the doses of 50, 300, 1000, 2000 and 3000mg/kg body weight respectively. Animals were observed for 48 hours to study the general behaviour of animals sign of discomfort and nervous manifestation. The extract was devoid of mortality of animals at the dose of 3000 mg/kg body weight.Hence1/20^th and 1/40^th of the dose selected for the screening of nephroprotective activity

Nephroprotective Activity:

Treatment Protocol:

Group I

Animals were administered with equivalent volumes of 0.1 ml i.p of normal saline (0.9% w/v NaCl) for 9 days.

Group II

Animals were received 80 mg/kg/day i.p of Gentamycin for 9 days to induce nephrotoxicity.

Group III

Animals were received 80 mg/kg/day i.p of Gentamycin for 9 days to induce nephrotoxicity and 100 mg/kg Butea monosperma extract was given to the animals from 10th to 19th day of study.

Group IV

Animals were received 80 mg/kg/day i.p of Gentamycin for 9 days to induce Nephrotoxicity, 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg Butea monosperma extract was given to the animals from 10th to 19th day of study.

At the end of experimental period blood samples were collected via retro orbital puncture and the serum was used for the assay of marker enzymes viz: blood urea, serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen were estimated by the method of Brod and Sirota⁸ and Marshell et al⁹ respectively. Three rats per group were sacrificed and both kidneys were isolated from each rat. The kidneys were weighed and processed for histopathological examination.

Histopathology:

The kidneys were sectioned longitudinally in two halves and were kept in 10% neutral formalin solution. Both kidneys were processed and embedded in paraffin wax and sections were taken using a microtome. The sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and were observed under a computerized light microscope.

Statistical analysis:

The data obtained was analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by students t-test P values < 0.01 were considered as significant

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

The preliminary phytochemical investigation report indicates that the methanol extract of BMF extract found to contains alkaloids, flavanoids, phenolic compounds, glycosides, tannins, proteins and carbohydrates.

Administration of Methanol extracts of Butea monosperma orally to male wistar rats produced no observable side effects up to 3000 mg/kg body weight even after 48 h of observation.

Kidney sections of normal rats showed normal architecture of tubules (Fig 1), while in gentamycin treated rats showed presence of degenerative changes in tubules with mild infiltration of leukocytes (Fig 2). The kidney of rat treated with methanol extract 200mg/kg after 10^th to 15^thday of gentamycin treatment showed reduction in degenerative changes (Fig 3). Histopathological study showed that gentamycin induces renal injury, as evidenced by decreased renal function in experimental animals.

Administration of gentamycin at 80mg/kg bodyweight produced a significant increase in blood urea, serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen followed by significant decrease in body weight of the experimental animals from 10th to 15th day of gentamycin administration. The methanol extract of Butea monosperma at the dose level of 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg was found to normalize the raised blood urea, blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine.

Nephrotoxicity is one of the major side effects of gentamycin. Several studies have shown that gentamycin induces renal damage by free radical generation. Hence free radical scavengers of natural origin might provide nephroprotection in gentamycin induced renal injury The methanol extract of flowers of Butea Monosperma possesses good nephroprotective activity due to its antioxidant activity of the flavanoids.

HISTOPATHOLOGY:

FIG-1

FIG-2

FIG-3

TABLE 1: EFFECT OF BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS ON GENTAMYCIN INDUCED NEPHROTOXICITY

S. No	Groups	Serum Urea ( mg/dl )	BUN ( Blood Urea Nitrogen) ( mg/dl )	Serum Creatinine ( mg/dl)
1	I Control (Normal saline)	30.5±2.39	17.5±0.78	0.70±0.07
2	II Gentamycin ( 80mg/kg )	76.70±2.24	56.80±2.40	1.81±.87
3	III-Gentamycin(80mg/kg)and BMF Extract (100mg/kg)	50.5±4.10	30.10±1.50	1.40±0.37
4	IV- Gentamycin(80mg/kg)and BMF Extract (200mg/kg)	35.5±4.10	25.10±1.30	0.88±0.15

N=6 Values are expressed as Mean±SEM P<0.05 were considered as significant

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are thankful to the management of R.V.S. College of Pharmaceutical Sciences for providing the required facilities to carry out the research work.

REFERENCES

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Received on 27.09.2011 Modified on 11.10.2011

Research J. Pharm. and Tech. 4(12): Dec. 2011; Page 1898-1900