Blueberry Extract (Vaccinium corymbosum) Attenuates Tnf-α Expression and Renal Inflammatory Cell Counts in Rats Models of Acute Kidney Injury

Acute kidney injury is a loss of kidney function characterized by decreased kidney function, decreased glomerular filtration, and increased levels of urea and creatinine. Blueberry extract has a high anthocyanin content which can act as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, making it a potential candidate for natural therapy for acute kidney injury. The purpose of this research was to determine the role of blueberry extract on TNF-α expression and the number of inflammatory cells in acute kidney injury. Rats (Rattus norvegicus) male Wistar stock aged 6-8 weeks, body weight between 200-250 grams, 20 rats were divided into 5 groups consisting of a negative control group (NC), namely rats without treatment, a positive control group (PC) namely rats induced acute kidney injury by glycerol 50%, and therapy groups T1, T2, T3 induced acute kidney injury and were given blueberry extract at doses of 500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg, and 1500 mg/kg respectively. The Blueberry extract was given orally 1 x 24 hours for 14 days. At the end of the research, the rats were euthanized, and the rats’ kidneys were taken for the measurement of TNF-α expression using immunohistochemical staining and the number of inflammatory cells using hematoxylin-eosin staining. Analysis of quantitative data on TNF-α expression and the inflammatory cells count using the One Way ANOVA test with a significance value of P<0.05. The results showed that the extract of Blueberry could reduce TNF-α expression (P<0.05) and the number of inflammatory cells (P<0.05) in the kidney with the best dose of 1500 mg/kg. The conclusion is the blueberry extract has a therapeutic effect on acute kidney injury based on TNF-α expression and the number of inflammatory cells.