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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiological agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This virus has become a global pandemic with unprecedented mortality and morbidity along with attendant financial and economic crises. Furthermore, COVID-19 can easily be transmitted regardless of religion, race, sex, or status. Globally, high hospitalization rates of COVID-19 patients have been reported, and billions of dollars have been spent to contain the pandemic. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) 2 is a receptor of SARS-CoV-2, which has a significant role in the entry of the virus into the host cell. ACE2 is highly expressed in the type II alveolar cells of the lungs, upper esophagus, stratified epithelial cells, and other tissues in the body. The diminished expressions of ACE2 have been associated with hypertension, arteriosclerosis, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and immune system dysregulation. Overall, the potential drug candidates that could serve as ACE2 activators or enhance the expression of ACE2 in a disease state, such as COVID-19, hold considerable promise in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reviews the therapeutic potential and pharmacological benefits of the novel ACE2 in the management of COVID-19 using search engines, such as Google, Scopus, PubMed, and PubMed Central.

Background and Aim: High salt diet and uninephrectomy are associated with high blood pressure with attendant cardiovascular disease conditions such as hypertension, renal damage, myocardial infarction, and stroke. The aim of this study was to investigate the beneficial effects of consumption of cocoa and cocoa-containing products in the management of high blood pressure in uninephrectomized hypertensive rats. Materials and Methods: The effect of cocoa powder on blood pressure, markers of inflammation, oxidative stress, and histopathology were investigated in uninephrectomized animals fed with cocoa feed alone or in combination with a high salt diet. Male rats were randomly divided into five groups: Group A was the control group and fed with normal feed alone, Group B was fed with cocoa feed alone, Group C was fed with high salt diet (8% salt), Group D was fed with cocoa-feed compounded with 8% salt for 4 weeks after uninephrectomy, and Group E was uninephrectomized rats on a normal diet. The left kidneys of animals in Groups C, D, and E were removed by surgery. After 4 weeks of treatment, the systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressure was measured. The serum markers of renal damage and oxidative stress were determined. Histological examination was also performed on renal and cardiac tissues. Results: Results showed significant increases in biomarkers of oxidative stress, inflammation, and renal damage with a concomitant decrease in antioxidant status in hypertensive uninephrectomized rats. Cocoa feed, however, significantly improved blood pressure and nitric oxide bioavailability, antioxidant status and reduced markers of inflammation and oxidative stress. Conclusion: These findings show that cocoa powder could be used to maintain blood pressure levels in hypertensive rats through its antioxidant capacity.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) is the etiological agent for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19). The COVID‐19 pandemic has created unimaginable and unprecedented global health crisis. Since the outbreak of COVID‐19, millions of dollars have been spent, hospitalization overstretched with increasing morbidity and mortality. All these have resulted in unprecedented global economic catastrophe. Several drugs and vaccines are currently being evaluated, tested, and administered in the frantic efforts to stem the dire consequences of COVID‐19 with varying degrees of successes. Zinc possesses potential health benefits against COVID‐19 pandemic by improving immune response, minimizing infection and inflammation, preventing lung injury, inhibiting viral replication through the interference of the viral genome transcription, protein translation, attachment, and host infectivity. However, this review focuses on the various mechanisms of action of zinc and its supplementation as adjuvant for vaccines an effective therapeutic regimen in the management of the ravaging COVID‐19 pandemic. Practical applications The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), the etiological agent for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19), has brought unprecedented untold hardship to both developing and developed countries. The global race for vaccine development against COVID‐19 continues with success in sight with attendant increasing hospitalization, morbidity, and mortality. Available drugs with anti‐inflammatory actions have become alternative to stem the tide of COVID‐19 with attendant global financial crises. However, Zinc is known to modulate several physiological functions including intracellular signaling, enzyme function, gustation, and olfaction, as well as reproductive, skeletal, neuronal, and cardiovascular systems. Hence, achieving a significant therapeutic approach against COVID‐19 could imply the use of zinc as a supplement together with available drugs and vaccines waiting for emergency authorization to win the battle of COVID‐19. Together, it becomes innovative and creative to supplement zinc with currently available drugs and vaccines., Dietary supplementation of Zinc could, therefore, be of immense benefits during the COVID‐19 pandemic due to its array of biological and pharmacological properties which include anti‐inflammatory, antioxidant, antiflu, antimicrobial, wound healing, antiaging, and a signaling molecule. Drugs such as chloroquine, and flavonoids including quercetin and epigallocatechin‐gallate act as facilitators and enhance the entry of zinc into the cell, and are, therefore, known as zinc ionophores. Hence, combining Zn as part of drug regimen for COVID‐19 could offer significant therapeutic advantage for the successful management of global COVID‐19 crisis.

Objectives Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a malady with a sudden onset resulting in buildup of waste matters in the body, but a specific cure hasn’t been found as a lasting solution to AKI. In this study, ramipril was evaluated for its potential therapy in glycerol-induced AKI in rats. Methods Twenty animals were divided into four groups of five animals each. Group I was the control while group II was given glycerol on day 8 only, groups III and IV were administered with pioglitazone (reference drug) and ramipril for seven days respectively and on day 8 received glycerol. On the ninth day, blood and tissue samples were taken to assay for serum indicators of oxidative damage, enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants, and creatinine and blood urea nitrogen. Animals were sacrificed thereafter; kidney was harvested for histological and immunohistochemical analysis. Expressions of caspase 3, renin receptor, NK-KB, and KIM-1 were carried out. Results Ramipril significantly inhibited indicators of oxidative damage while also significantly increasing levels of enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant markers. These drugs also significantly lowered the levels of creatinine and blood urea nitrogen. Histology also indicated that while there were massive infiltration of leucocytes and congestion of the kidney in toxicant group, the ramipril-treated group showed a milder condition. In immunohistochemistry, the two drugs significantly inhibited the expressions of the four proteins, which were highly expressed in the toxicant group. Conclusions The study showed that ramipril and pioglitazone have nephroprotective effect and thus have the ability to blunt AKI through their anti-inflammatory, antiapoptosis, antirenin, and antioxidant properties.

Moringa oleifera popularly referred to as wonder plant is a medicinal plant with a remarkable variety of therapeutic purposes. The aim of this study was to assess the ameliorative effect of Moringa oleifera on glycerol-induced acute kidney injury in rats thus renewing interest in the development of new treatment plans. Glycerol (50% v/v in sterile saline, intramuscular) was used to induce acute kidney injury. Group A (control group) received distilled water only, the group B animals (toxicant group) received glycerol alone on the 8th day, and groups C and D animals were given 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg of methanol stem extract of Moringa oleifera respectively for seven days and glycerol on the 8th day. Group E animals on the other hand received 100 mg/kg of methanol stem extract of Moringa oleifera alone for seven days and on day 8 received normal saline. To assess renal damage and possible ameliorative effects of the extract, serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, myeloperoxidase, advanced oxidative products, malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione, and protein carbonyl were determined. Histopathological analysis of kidney tissues and immunohistochemical analysis of KIM-1 and NF-ҝB expressions were also carried out on kidney tissues. The results showed that methanol stem bark extract of Moringa oleifera improves glycerol-induced acute kidney injury by inhibiting markers of inflammation, oxidative stress and renal damage by modulating KIM-1 and NF-ҝB signaling pathways. In conclusion, the methanol stem extract of Moringa oleifera blunts glycerol-induced acute kidney injury in rats through its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Background: Azadirachta indica (AI) Adr Juss (Meliaceae), known as neem, has been used traditionally for the treatment of various disease conditions including obesity and hypertension. Objective: The antihypertensive effect and mechanism of action of modulatory effect of AI were investigated after the induction of hypertension using Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME). Materials and Methods: Five groups of ten rats divided as follows: Control; L-NAME (40 mg/kg); L-NAME + 100 mg/kg AI; L-NAME and 200 mg/kg ?AI; and L-NAME and Enalapril (25 mg/kg) were used. Results: following the application of L-NAME, hypertension (elevated systolic, diastolic, mean arterial blood pressures) and increased levels of oxidative stress markers were observed in rats. Immunohistochemistry showed increased caspase-3 expressions in hypertensive rats compared to normotensive rats. Conversely, AI treatment resulted in restoration of physiological antioxidant status and normotension, comparable to the standard antihypertensive agent enalapril. Conclusion: AI leaf is a good candidate for the management of high blood pressure.

Lead acetate (PbA) is one of the major environmental contaminants with grave toxicological consequences both in the developing and developed countries. The liver and erythrocyte antioxidant status and markers of oxidative were assessed. Exposure of rats to PbA led to significant decline (p < 0.05) in hepatic and erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and reduced glutathione (GSH) content. Similarly, malondialdehyde (MDA) and H(2)O(2) concentrations were significantly (p < 0.05) elevated. Histopathology and immunohistology of liver of rats exposed to PbA showed focal areas of necrosis and COX-2 expression after 6 weeks of PbA withdrawal. Taken together, hepatic and erythrocytes antioxidant defence system failed to recover after withdrawal of the exposed PbA for the period of the study. In conclusion, experimental animals exposed to PbA did not recover from hepatotoxicity and disruption of erythrocyte antioxidant defence system via free radical generation and oxidative stress.