Effects of a prescription of Chinese herbal medicine on snake venom-induced nephropathy in mice.

Abstract

A prescription of Chinese herbal medicine, tentatively named P-19, was examined for its inhibitory effect and its mechanism using an experimental model of nephropathy induced by purified snake venom proteinase, Ac(1)-proteinase (Ac(1)-P). The treated mice were injected with 0.1 ml of crude extract of P-19 intraperitoneally every other day beginning 2 d before to 1 week after the injection of Ac(1)-P. The non-treated mice were injected with saline instead of the medicine P-19. The physiological condition and histopathological observation of the mice at one week after Ac(1)-P injection were better in the treated group than in the non-treated group. This indicates that P-19 inhibited the production of glomerular lesions induced in mice by Ac(1)-P. The physiological condition and histopathological changes in the mice were better with P-19 treatment than with P-3 treatment. Differences in the mechanism of action between the crude extract of P-3 and P-19 are not only in diuretic action but also in the changes in the glomerular basement membrane. On the basis of spectrophotometric studies, phenolic carboxylates were confirmed to be contained in the crude extract of P-19, having a different chemical structure of caffeic acid, which is the effective component in P-3. Immunohistochemical observation revealed a difference between the groups. In the non-treated mice, deposits of the venom were clearly observed in the glomerular tuft and Bowman's capsule, corresponding to the histopathological changes, within 2.5 min after the injection of Ac(1)-P. In the treated mice, the deposits were indistinct in the Bowman's capsule. The difference was considered to be caused by changes in the glomerular basement membrane after P-19 treatment.