ORIGINAL ARTICLE Attenuation of diabetic nephropathy in alloxan-induced diabetic rats by Solanum macrocarpon Linn aqueous leaves extract L. Ekakitie 1 & B. O. Ajiboye 1,2 & B. E. Oyinloye 1,3 & O. S. Owero-ozeze 1 & S. A. Onikanni 1 & O. A. Ojo 1,4 Received: 7 November 2020 /Accepted: 1 February 2021 # The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag London Ltd. part of Springer Nature 2021 Abstract Solanum macrocarpon leaf is one of the medicinal plants locally used to manage diabetic nephropathy. This has been established in scientific studies as one of the main factors responsible for kidney damage in diabetes mellitus patients. Hence, our study investigated the attenuation of diabetic nephropathy in alloxan-induced diabetic rats using Solanum macrocarpon Linn aqueous extract leaves. A total of 48 male Wistar rats of 7 to 8 weeks old were used in this study. A single injection of alloxan (150 mg/kg, i.p.) was used to induce diabetes in rats. Induced diabetic rats were then administered different doses (12.45, 24.90 and 49.80 mg/kg body weight) of Solanum macrocarpon (SM) leaves aqueous extract orally for 14 days. Then kidney and serum were subsequently obtained for oxidative stress biomarkers, kidney function indices as well as inflammatory parameters determination using their respective procedures. Induced diabetic rats administered SM leaves aqueous extract showed significant (p<0.05) increase in the activities of catalase (CAT), glutathione S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione (GSH), an antioxidant enzymes studied compared with the diabetic control group. However, induced diabetic rats administered SM leaves aqueous extract showed significant (p<0.05) decrease in lipid peroxidation, fasting blood glucose, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), urea and uric acid levels as well as levels of inflammation compared with the diabetic control group. Our findings provide experimental evidence that SM leaves aqueous extract has an anti-nephropathy ability which might be useful for diabetes mellitus patients globally. Keywords Solanum macrocarpon . Diabetic . Nephropathy . Orally Introduction Diabetes mellitus is well-known with hyperglycaemia due to the flaws in the secretion or action of insulin (Naik 2010). Following what was said by Mestry et al. (2017), persistent hyperglycaemia has been connected with a wide range of de- struction of different organs in the body. This has been a major issue in the build-up of different diabetic complications in patients, especially nephropathy (Makita et al. 1991). Diabetic nephropathy has been reported to be one of the leading complications (microvascular) in patients having dia- betes mellitus as well as part of the leading causes in diabetic conditions ranging from end-stage renal failure and death (Gupta et al. 2016). And this affects more than 30% of diabetic patients globally (Kikkawa et al. 2003). Young et al. (2010) documented that persistent exposure to hyperglycaemia may contribute to early renal pathological alterations leading to protein matrix accumulation and development of renal hyper- trophy, tubulo-interstitial changes and increase in tubular basement membrane thickening. Added to this, different met- abolic derangements, oxidative stress, as well as advanced glycation end products (AGEs), enhance the danger for the development of diabetic nephropathy (Gupta et al. 2016). Furthermore, there are several medicinal plants with anti- nephropathy potentials. Eggplant (Solanum macrocarpon) is * B. O. Ajiboye bash1428@yahoo.co.uk 1 Phytomedicine, Biochemical Toxicology and Biotechnology Research Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, College of Sciences, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria 2 Present address: Phytomedicine and Molecular Toxicology Research Laboratory, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria 3 Biotechnology and Structural Biology (BSB) Group, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa 3886, South Africa 4 Present address: Department of Biochemistry, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-021-03220-5 / Published online: 17 February 2021 Comparative Clinical Pathology (2021) 30:173–179