Vanillin Attenuates Acute Renal Injury and Improves the Survival Rate in the Rat Model of Sepsis

Background and Objective: Sepsis is one of the most prevalent diseases that cause a chain reaction in the human system. Sepsis-related acute renal failure (ARF) exhibits a higher mortality risk. This research intends to study whether vanillin attenuates acute renal injury and enhances survival in a rat model of sepsis via regulating the NF-kappa B signaling pathway. Materials and Methods: A total of 24 Sprague-Dawley rats were split between 4 groups (sham, decease, vanillin 100 mg kg(-1) and vanillin 200 mg kg(-1)). Animals were kept in the cages after CLP induction, then blood was withdrawn to assess the serum creatinine (sCr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels, autacoids were assessed in the kidney tissue homogenate, TUNEL assays, qRT-PCR and western blot assessments were performed and finally, histopathological analysis was carried out. Results: Levels of Scr, BUN and autacoids were higher in the disease group than in the sham group but reversed in vanillin-treated animals. In the disease group, the ratio of apoptosis and the mRNA expression of caspase-3 and Bax were higher but the mRNA expression of Bcl-2 was lower. In the histopathological study, the disease group's histopathological score was higher than the sham group's but significantly lowered in the vanillin-treated group than in the disease group. Conclusion: The findings in the research demonstrated that vanillin lowers nephron apoptosis, which attenuates sepsis-induced ARF through lowering the NF-kappa B p65 pathway and oxidative stress.