A component of grapefruit and other citrus fruits such as naringenin blocks the formation of kidney cysts, revealed UK-based researchers.
A team of scientists from the Royal Holloway University (St. George's), University of London and Kingston University London have found that a component of grapefruit and other citrus fruits such as naringenin blocks the formation of kidney cysts.
They used a simple, single-celled amoeba to identify that naringenin, the component that regulates the PKD2 protein. It is mainly responsible for polycystic kidney disease and as a result, blocks formation of cysts. According to the researchers, this discovery provides an important step forward in understanding how polycystic kidney disease may be controlled.
To see if the finding could apply in treatments, they used a mammalian kidney cell-line, and triggered the formation of cysts in these cells.They were then able to block the formation of the cysts by adding naringenin and saw that when levels of the PKD2 protein were reduced in the kidney cells, so was the block in cyst formation, confirming that the effect was connected.
The study appeared in the British Journal of Pharmacology.
Read more Health News.
All possible measures have been taken to ensure accuracy, reliability, timeliness and authenticity of the information; however Onlymyhealth.com does not take any liability for the same. Using any information provided by the website is solely at the viewers’ discretion. In case of any medical exigencies/ persistent health issues, we advise you to seek a qualified medical practitioner before putting to use any advice/tips given by our team or any third party in form of answers/comments on the above mentioned website.