Re: Protective Role of Silymarin and Deferoxamine against Iron Dextran - Induced Renal Iron Deposition in Male Rats

DEAR EDITOR, We read with respect the paper “Protective role of Silymarin and deferoxamine against iron dextran induced renal iron deposition in male rats by Nematbakhsh et al. It is an interesting paper; however, I would like to add some complementary comments to it. In this paper the Silymarin reduced the kidney iron deposition in an iron overload model. The findings have demonstrated that Silymarin with the dose of 200 mg/kg potentially has more protective effect than deferoxamine against kidney iron deposition. This effect of Silymarin in this experiment was attributed to its antioxidant activities. Liver is one of the most probable organs which may be damaged due to iron load. The common presentation of iron load is hepatic cirrhosis. Silymarin has long been recognized for its hepatoprotective activities. Silymarin is a standardized extract of Silybum marianum or milk thistle seeds. It contains a mixture of flavonolignans consisting of silibinin, isosilibinin, silicristin and silidianin. Silibinin, also known as silybin, is the major active constituent of Silymarin. Both laboratory and animal studies suggest that Silimarin and silibinin have hepatoprotective properties against a wide variety of toxins. The efficacy of Silymarin in preventing drug‐induced liver damage in patients taking psychotropic drugs long‐term Department of Pathology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, 1Department of Pharmacology, Medical Plants Research Center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran Correspondence to: Prof. Mahmoud Rafieian‐Kopaei, Medical Plants Research Center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Sharekord, Iran. E‐mail: [email protected] Date of Submission: Aug 12, 2013