Screening of herbal medicines for recovery of acetaminophen-induced nephrotoxicity.

This study was conducted to quantitatively evaluate the recovery effects of herbal medicines on acetaminophen-induced nephrotoxicity. In the present study, the recovery effects of 251 herb medicines on HEK 293 cells that had been damaged by acetaminophen were evaluated using an MTS assay. HEK 293 cells were cultured in 96-well plates and then pretreated with or without 20μM acetaminophen (IC(50) value: 17.5±1.9) for 1h. Next, different herbal medicines were added to the wells, after which the cells were reincubated at 37°C for 24h. After the first round of screening, the candidate herbal medicines were selected based on a recovery rate of greater than 20% and their efficacy were then determined by dose response kinetic analysis. Among these extracts, 8 herbal medicines (Ledebouriella divaricata, Sparganium simplex, Panax ginseng, Aster tataricus, Citrus aurantium, Sanguisorba officianlis, Arisaema consanguineum, and Polygonum aviculare) had a strong recovery effect on acetaminophen-induced damage in HEK 293 cells. Dose response non-linear regression analysis demonstrated that P. aviculare showed the best recovery rate (98%), and that its EC(50) (0.1ng/mL) was the smallest among the screened candidate herbal medicines. Additional studies of these herbal medicines should be conducted to determine if they possess novel therapeutic agents for the prevention or treatment of renal disorders.