{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T18:35:46Z","timestamp":1787769346274,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,1]],"date-time":"2025-11-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1761955200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pharmaceuticals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Karwinskia humboldtiana (Kh) is a toxic plant that produces a fruit that, when ingested in large quantities, causes damage to the lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and duodenum. Pancreatic damage was measured using a semiquantitative score, revealing that it is progressive and characterized by selective apoptosis and necrosis of the exocrine portion. However, renal injury has not been evaluated using injury scales and has only been reported descriptively. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is one of the top five causes of cancer death in the United States, and options for its treatment are limited. One of the toxins extracted from the fruit (T-514) has been tested as a possible antineoplastic agent in various cancer cell lines. In order to preliminarily assess its possible usefulness against pancreatic cancer, we decided to re-evaluate kidney damage using a semi-quantitative scale, hoping to obtain a lesser injury intensity than that reported in the pancreas. Methods: We analyzed kidney samples from the same model of acute pancreatitis by Kh by semiquantitative scoring to compare the results with those previously reported in the pancreas, and performed a TUNEL assay to analyze cell death in the kidney. Results: The renal injury that occurs in this model of Kh poisoning consists mainly of hydropic degeneration and loss of microvilli in proximal tubules. According to the scale used in this work, the following percentages of kidney injury were obtained: 8.26 \u00b1 0.93% for the control group, 9.65 \u00b1 1.60%, 11.04 \u00b1 1.36%, 12.78 \u00b1 2.46%, 14.03 \u00b1 1.83% and 15.76 \u00b1 3.73% for the groups 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 96 h and 120 h after Kh administration. In contrast, the following were reported for the pancreas: 0.28 \u00b1 0.83% for the control group, 14.81 \u00b1 7.64%, 35.63 \u00b1 12.05%, 67.13 \u00b1 5.27%, 85.28 \u00b1 13.14% and 87.13 \u00b1 11.17% for the groups 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 96 h and 120 h after Kh administration. These results indicate that pancreatic injury is 71.37% more intense than renal injury at 120 h after Kh. No evidence of nuclear chromatin fragmentation was found in the kidney. Conclusions: The renal damage in this model of acute pancreatitis is of lower intensity than the pancreatic damage, suggesting that Kh and its toxins may be useful in the treatment of pancreatic cancer and their study in an in vitro or in vivo cancer model is justified.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ph18111652","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,3]],"date-time":"2025-11-03T13:47:58Z","timestamp":1762177678000},"page":"1652","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Histopathological Scoring of Renal Injury in an Experimental Model of Acute Pancreatitis Caused by Karwinskia humboldtiana Fruit: Exploring Its Potential Utility in the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9455-8125","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nallely","family":"Esparza-Rodr\u00edguez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), Hospital General de Zona No. 50, Servicio de Medicina Interna, San Luis 78397, San Luis Potos\u00ed, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-3587-6631","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nestor Jaime","family":"Sol\u00eds-Flores","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Tumores Mamarios, Instituto Nacional de Cancerolog\u00eda (INCan), Secretar\u00eda de Salud, Mexico City 14080, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gabriela Guadalupe","family":"Medell\u00edn-Zapata","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Servicio de Ginecolog\u00eda y Obstetricia, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), Hospital General de Subzona y Medicina Familiar No. 2, Cozumel 77664, Quintana Roo, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9169-2118","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juan Carlos","family":"Segoviano-Ram\u00edrez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Independent Researcher, Garc\u00eda 66036, Nuevo Le\u00f3n, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9927-0363","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Katya","family":"Carca\u00f1o-D\u00edaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Yucat\u00e1n, M\u00e9rida 97000, Yucat\u00e1n, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6539-8134","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marta","family":"Ortega-Mart\u00ednez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Patolog\u00eda, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Nuevo Le\u00f3n (UANL), Monterrey 64460, Nuevo Le\u00f3n, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5742-1189","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gilberto","family":"Jaramillo-Rangel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Patolog\u00eda, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Nuevo Le\u00f3n (UANL), Monterrey 64460, Nuevo Le\u00f3n, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4544-2913","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jaime","family":"Garc\u00eda-Ju\u00e1rez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Histolog\u00eda, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Nuevo Le\u00f3n (UANL), Monterrey 64460, Nuevo Le\u00f3n, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"Nombres comunes, usos y distribuci\u00f3n geogr\u00e1fica del g\u00e9nero Karwinskia (Rhamnaceae) en M\u00e9xico","volume":"63","year":"1992","journal-title":"An. 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