Role of Antioxidant Herbal Drugs in Renal Disorders: An Overview

Kidneys are the organs that have numerous biological roles. Their primary role is to maintain the homeostatic balance of body fluids by filtering and secreting metabolites (such as urea) and minerals from the blood and excreting the nitrogenous wastes along with water, as urine. Because the kidneys are poised to sense plasma concentrations of ions such as sodium, potassium, hydrogen, and compounds such as amino acids, creatinine, bicarbonate, and glucose, they are important regulators of blood pressure, glucose metabolism, and erythropoiesis. Kidney disease not only has a significant morbidity, but a high mortality as well. Besides, the high costs and complexity of the treatments, very few patients are able to obtain adequate treatment and kidney disorders place a heavy financial burden on society. Nephrotoxicity is an inherent adverse effect of certain antibiotics, anticancer drugs and other synthetic molecules. A number of extracts of natural products and dietary antioxidants have been reported to show protective effects against nephrotoxicity. Following herbal drugs have shown their potent nephroprotective effect due their antioxidant, diuretic, anti inflammatory, antispasmodic properties.