Research Article Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester Protects against Amphotericin B Induced Nephrotoxicity in Rat Model Atila AltuntaG, 1 H. Ramazan YJlmaz, 2 AyGegül AltuntaG, 3 Efkan Uz, 4 Murat Demir, 1 Alparslan Gökçimen, 5 OLuzhan Aksu, 6 Dilek Fenol Bayram, 5 and Mehmet TuLrul Sezer 1 1 Department of Nephrology, School of Medicine, Internal Medicine, S¨ uleyman Demirel University, East Campus, 32200 Isparta, Turkey 2 Department of Medical Biology, School of Medicine, Mevlana University, 42030 Konya, Turkey 3 Department of Dermatology, Isparta State Hospital, 32200 Isparta, Turkey 4 Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, S¨ uleyman Demirel University, 32200 Isparta, Turkey 5 Department of Histology, School of Medicine, S¨ uleyman Demirel University, 32200 Isparta, Turkey 6 Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, School of Medicine, Internal Medicine, S¨ uleyman Demirel University, 32200 Isparta, Turkey Correspondence should be addressed to Atila Altuntas ¸; atilaaltuntas@yahoo.com Received 28 February 2014; Accepted 31 May 2014; Published 16 June 2014 Academic Editor: Beatrice Charreau Copyright © 2014 Atila Altuntas ¸ et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. he present study was conducted to investigate whether cafeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), an active component of propolis extract, has a protective efect on amphotericin B induced nephrotoxicity in rat models. Male Wistar-Albino rats were randomly divided into four groups: (I) control group ( = 10), (II) CAPE group (=9) which received 10 mol/kg CAPE intraperitoneally (i.p.), (III) amphotericin B group (=7) which received one dose of 50 mg/kg amphotericin B, and (IV) amphotericin B plus CAPE group (=7) which received 10 mol/kg CAPE i.p. and one dose of 50 mg/kg amphotericin B. he let kidney was evaluated histopathologically for nephrotoxicity. Levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), enzyme activities including catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured in the right kidney. Histopathological damage was prominent in the amphotericin B group compared to controls, and the severity of damage was lowered by CAPE administration. he activity of SOD, MDA, and NO levels increased and catalase activity decreased in the amphotericin B group compared to the control group ( = 0.0001,  = 0.003,  = 0.0001, and  = 0.0001, resp.). Amphotericin B plus CAPE treatment caused a signiicant decrease in MDA, NO levels, and SOD activity ( = 0.04,  = 0.02, and  = 0.0001, resp.) and caused an increase in CAT activity compared with amphotericin B treatment alone ( = 0.005). CAPE treatment seems to be an efective adjuvant agent for the prevention of amphotericin B nephrotoxicity in rat models. 1. Introduction Amphotericin B (AmB) is widely used for the treatment of fungal infections, especially for candidiasis. It has a toxic efect on fungal cells by making complexes with mem- brane sterols that can act as transmembrane channels [1– 3]. However, its usage is limited due to dose-dependent side efects, commonly nephrotoxicity which may lead to renal failure. In order to prevent its toxicity, new formulations of amphotericin have been developed (liposomal, emulsion, and nanoparticle forms) [1]. Despite the development of pharmaceutical forms of AmB, it has not been able to avoid nephrotoxicity, and the main strategies depend on protective agents [4–6]. Cafeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), a lavonoid-like compound, is one of the major components of honeybee propolis [7]. CAPE has no potentially harmful efects on nor- mal cells [8] and has several biological and pharmacological properties, including antioxidant [9, 10], anti-inlammatory [11], anticarcinogenic [12], antiviral [13], and immunomod- ulatory activities [14]. CAPE has been found to protect rats Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2014, Article ID 702981, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/702981