Abstract:
Female gender is an independent risk factor for the development of metabolic
syndrome (MES) (a cluster of features indicating metabolic disorders), that
is associated with kidney damage, insulin resistance and a significant reduction
in Nitric Oxide (NO), a major metabolite of L-arginine (ARG). This study aimed
to ascertain the effect of ARG on selected markers of MES related to kidney
damage in female Wistar albino rats. Two groups of rats were given 3 mL kg-1
body weight (b.wt.) of distilled water, DW and 60 mg kg-1 b.wt. of
ARG, respectively as control and treated groups. Exposing the female rats to
ARG caused a significant decrease (p<0.01) in the concentration of urea (6.34±0.23
mg/100 mL), creatinine (4.41±0.50 mg/100 mL) and albumin (14.30±0.15
mg/100 mL) in rats’ serum. It
decreased (p<0.01) creatinine clearance (1.78±0.27 mL min-1)
but elicited a significant increase (p<0.01) in the albumin:creatinine ratio
(3.27±0.32) of the rats. Improved kidney histology as indicated by lots
of renal corpuscles, was observed in the ARG-fed group while correlation analysis
showed that urea correlated positively (r = 0.01) with creatinine, albumin and
creatinine clearance, but negatively (r = 0.01) with Albumin: Creatinine ratio.
The study suggests that L-arginine ingestion could improve these renal function
markers and perhaps, metabolic syndrome related to kidney dysfunction, in female
Wistar rats. The effect could be concerted and significant as indicated by the
histomorpholgy and correlation results. Thus, with the abundance of ARG in nuts,
including walnut, cashew nut, ground nut and even coconut, the implication of
this study in the prevention and management of MES in, especially female, animals
is noteworthy hence, deserve follow up, probably in humans.
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