Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the association with DRP1 the protective effect of ALA on kidney tissue of the rats administered with adriamycin.

Material and Method: Twenty eight Sprague-Dawley male rats were used in this study. Animals were divided to four groups. No administration was made to the control group during 28 days. A single dose of 15 mg / kg ADR was given intraperitoneally to the ADR group. After 15 mg / kg ADR was given to ADR + ALA group, 50 mg / kg ALA was given by oral gavage every other day. In the ALA group, 50 mg / kg ALA was administered orally every other day. At the end of the experiment, the rats were decapitated. Following decapitation, histological and quantitative RT-PCR analyzes were done.

Results: Histopathological findings such as inflammatory cell increase, enlargement bowman distance were observed in the ADR group. ALA treatment was found to reduce the majority of histopathological findings.DRP1 immunoreactivity was significantly increased in the ADR group compared to the control group, whereas in the ADR+ALA group, DRP1 immunoreactivity was significantly lower than ADR group. A statistically significant increase was found in DRP1, BAX and CASP3 mRNA levels in the ADR group compared to the control group. A significant decrease was detected in DRP1, BAX and CASP3 mRNA levels in ADR + ALA group compared to the ADR group.

Conclusion: This study revealed that ADR causes apoptosis and increases in DRP1 expression together with histopathological damages in kidney tissues, whereas ALA provides major protection against these effects of ADR by regulating apoptosis and DRP1 activities.